Code: Divinity
by Silius1
Summary: With the organization: ASIC defeated and the gang war over, Karen and her group are now focusing their efforts on returning to their native worlds which is spearheaded by Karen's presence as goddess of Arcadia, but when she suddenly disappears alongside Neptune, their efforts are forced to stop since Arcadia's prosperity depends on her presence and puts the project in danger.
1. Prologue

A/N: If you all have been reading my previous story: Code Neptunia diligently, you may have seen that I've written that Karen had been suffering occasional bouts of weakness and outright near lethal medical states that I haven't fully shown like when Karen attempted to use her Next Form against CFW Magic in the Gamindustri Graveyard. But now, you're going to learn why Karen felt so weak then.

Also, this prologue chapter has some very dark moments rivaling those I've used in Neptunia so brace yourselves now because you've been warned.

Lastly, while I've tended to ignore the chirper event feature a lot in Neptunia since it just doesn't come to me until too late, I'm going to be making a greater effort on including a minimal of one per chapter here in Code: Divinity. Also, in regards to that 'system', I'm going to adapt it to the version in Victory where 10 is the cap of the lily ranks while the prequel Neptunia used MK2's version of the system had a cap of 5.

* * *

Arc 1:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Uzume's Hideout]

With the chaos in the city now gone, the need for a unified combat team was non-existent so she gathered all of her allies: Falcom, Broccoli, MAGES., CyberConnect2, MarvelousAQL, Tekken, Lid, Moru, Estelle, Lee-Fi, Ein Al, Resta, Blossom Aisen, and Generia G, though she noticed that the two corporate leaders she spoke with before: Sango and Ryuka, and a newcomer who joined not too long ago who goes by the name Little Rain, and told them that their service to her is no longer necessary and to serve Aqua Heart with the same fervor they did with her. The response to this action of hers was one she did not expect since she kept herself shrouded in shadow deliberately since this is what she planned to do from the start but they all unanimously said that none of them want to stop working with her even though they will honor her request to work for Aqua Heart.

Although Uzume was very good at keeping herself calm and collected, this development caught her off-guard but she waved it off and asked everyone to return to their prior assignments and continue supporting Arcadia and her leader to the utmost. When she was sure they were gone, she returned to her room, removed her helmet, pressed a hidden button on the wall the door was on to make a small metallic panel slide out and she then pressed a few buttons on her special gauntlet as a holographic display of the man she has been working with: Tybalt appears above the panel

"Agent Ten, what have you to report to me this time?"

Uzume simply smirked as she put her hand on the side of her stomach "Everything is proceeding as we planned Tybalt. I have noticed a deviation in our plan but it may actually serve us better in the long run."

"Explain."

"I asked Karen Koizumi a while back if she knew of Philia and Strea and she has said she has no knowledge of such individuals. We must have attracted the attention of some parallel version of her by either accident or divine providence. That means that entire segment of our plan has been interfered with. Based on what I've seen, she's hesitant to commit extreme acts and could be considered emotionally weak unlike the Karen Koizumi we originally planned on recruiting, who was unafraid to do what she had to do, no matter the cost, but she has begun falling into some level of depravity by forcibly brainwashing Filia, her sister, and her squad. But like I said, this may be better for us. This version of Karen seems to be more drawn to diplomatic negotiation and peaceful resolutions aside from what I said since her hand was forced in both cases. In fact, she has some uncanny gift for drawing others to support her. The Karen we planned on would've never been able to truly gain the loyalty of some of her key supporters: Miyo, Garrus, Wrex, even the CPUs to an extent. Besides, she's actually easier to manipulate so we might be able to accelerate our plan. While it is better to play the waiting game, anything to speed things up, without endangering the plan naturally, should be fully taken advantage of."

"You know I don't like these types of complications, I prefer things staying remaining uniform, but go on."

"Right. Like we predicted Tybalt, Karen Koizumi has departed to find the ancient Parthenian Knight order and gain their assistance to help develop Arcadia's military might. As much as your vehicles will help turn the tide against the monsters' soon-to-be evolution, no war can be won without infantry on the ground and they have the most and best feet to plant on this future warfields. I have to admit, you are quite the evil bastard by actually poisoning their lands all those years ago, making it so gradual that you perfectly hide your involvement and make the Parthenians _want_ to negotiate for food in addition to that warning slash prophecy I gave Selles fifty years ago with that special time warp device I got from my friend in the Zeta Dimension. I told him that salvation would only come through the mercy of a CPU who would one day seek them out. I can only imagine that Evart was sent with this in mind before he got stupid and tried killing us all. But the problem is, he was close to actually killing Karen in the battle. These Parthenians, or their knights at least, have the means to actually greatly harm, or worse even kill, CPUs. Karen Koizumi's holy CPU sword was destroyed like it was nothing."

"Ten, if this is true, what were you thinking letting the CPU go alone?!"

"Evart was an idiot who was corrupt with power when he left the carefully structured lives of the Parthenian Knights. Most of Selles' knights are far more level-headed and willing to negotiate, _I freaking hope_ , particularly when they know that their people are on the brink of utter annihilation. They wouldn't let this vendetta kill them themselves in the process. Besides, she didn't go alone. She has the goddess of Lastation: Black Heart accompanying her. Even if she was alone, Karen has the wisdom to avoid making those stronger than her mad, I trust her in that regard."

"You speak highly of her Uzume. Don't tell me you're suddenly decided to pine for her attention and play for the other team."

"Wha...Wha...WHAT?! I know you're eccentric, but where the hell did that come from?! You honestly expect me to believe I'm into girls, my own sister especially?!"

"If you remember, Caelus is nothing more a spiritual addition and advisor to Karen Koizumi. That should have zero impact on your choices in terms of romance. You know that we immortal beings tend to favor isolation since we can never truly connect with those burdened by the dimensional boundaries so having the chance of romance is a rare and beautiful thing. Besides, you're not even in the position of denying your sexuality Uzume. Remember that you have experimented with both Eris and Manila in your past. With this mind, you have no right to claim familial ties in this matter in addition to any claim you're not bisexual at the minimal."

"You. Sick. Bastard. I cannot believe I actually decided to work along with you."

"How crude. I simply speak the truth, like I always do."

"Like hell. You shroud yourself in darkness more than Thraaklon did. Just keep your damned promises, get me more fighters to boost Arcadia's military chain of command, and STAY THE HELL out of my private life!" Just to show how furious Uzume was at how he was mocking her, she slammed her fist against the panel and deactivated the communication between them, having to fight the urge to kick the wall in her rage "I hate this guy so damn much. But I need to play along since he is right about one thing. As much as I want to believe otherwise, he is right on how I can't bring myself to truly connect with my people, Karen, or even Caelus because of how being forced out of the dimensional void has warped me. I can't perceive time in the same way they do which is one of the worst problems." Uzume simply groaned and shook her head to try clearing her head "I don't have time for this garbage, I need to...wait. Could he have a point? I know how things play out because of my time warping. I didn't need to gather my people to fight the gangs off since I foresaw that Karen achieved victory without them. The same goes with Aufisa since Tybalt already chose to provide his advanced vehicles. So why am I going to these lengths to make her conflicts less arduous? Do I really-?" Uzume was feeling conflicted with this development, particularly when memory of her time among her sisters was brought up in such a manner and felt her cheeks flush a faint red, both of her being forced to remember her past back when everything was more normal and current events at hand.

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Northwest Plains]

Nine days have passed since Arcadia has finally been secured through the combined efforts of the three groups led by Katsuo, Kazuto, and Mamoru, and Uzume's own task force who merged with Karen's inner circle, and with the gangs disbanded, a formal police force was formed almost immediately afterward which swelled to over four hundred and fifty licensed officers, with Garrus being appointed as executor of the entire force despite his mild disdain because of his memory of C-Sec, primarily the red tape, though the idea of having an entire police police force under his command gave him a mild surge of pride and eagerness with every intention of using his experience and background to make sure Arcadia remains peaceful, and with every intention of keeping her promise with Wil, she had sent out Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to help with relocating the children and give them a new home in the old outpost Katsuo and the others used in the gang wars, with a great number of refurbishing to account for this and was accepted as caretakers by both sides, as Karen began requesting tasks of her new allies which varied from security patrols for the police, working transmutations with alchemy, doing odd jobs amidst the massive metropolis city for Arcadia's Guild, and requested help from Gaptahl to explore the continent since large swaths of it is still unexplored despite Filia's best efforts, while the Scattered Bones, or their non-combat identity: the Sparrowfeathers, took to their role as merchants and established a small financial firm geared toward advice for start-ups though they also keep secret tabs on the underground as the Scattered Bones to ensure no more gangs pop out of the framework and threaten peace again.

Unfortunately, when the final gang alliance was neutralized, a flash raid, composed of the few members of the previous battle who were still capable of battle, was launched on the compound that acted as a subsidiary to the black market operating in the country but they found that the entire building was abandoned, all of the weapons taken and any sign of the black market even being there is gone but the Scattered Bones and a special team assembled by Histoire both promised to track down the group running the black market and take them down following their own paths. Histoire's team is largely remaining on standby while waiting for her reports, regardless of how long it takes to gather such info, while a squad within the Scattered Bones has been sent out by Rose's request who are prioritizing investigation in the two known compounds the black market used in Lastation and Arcadia since they feel like they could find clues the previous strike teams missed, vowing this because of their skill as assassins and their proud name as the Scattered Bones.

Supplementing the fact Karen's forces were unable to locate the black market, it took precious little effort for Filia's squad and her sister to realize Karen had placed her under mind control and pretending they were unaware, they asked Karen to meet them since this was the last straw they were willing to accept, but she thankfully sensed some unease in their demand and she asked her new allies from Yuidora to provide a small honor guard in Yuela, one of Leguna's golems, and Melodiana. As a result of this preparation, she was able to repulse the attack from the group who was once her royal guard when she met them and force the same ritual on the traitors since they were aiming to kill her. When she was sure they had their minds dominated through the magic she used, she told them to leave and report to Garrus for orders regarding the police force, them doing so after a combined series of bows from them all. After they departed the area, Yuela sheathed her sword and looked toward the CPU.

"Why did you place the woman under mind control Aqua Heart?"

"She made an attempt on my life Yuela. Under normal circumstances, that gives me the authority to execute her and her squad. But their exceptional skills are too valuable to simply toss aside. It's barbaric, but I'm controlling their minds so they'll remain complacent and Arcadia can still use their talents. However, I know I am taking a gamble in this since this magic is still very much unknown to me since I learned it from an old tome. Whether it has time limits, side-effects, things like that; I need to research it further. I was forced to act in the spur of the moment."

"Is this another one of these moments where you have to force yourself to be cruel to be kind to your country?" Yuela asked very solemnly as she stared the CPU down with a very calm air to her posture.

"Unfortunately so. I am sorrowful over this but I had to do what I must for my people. But rest assured Yuela, Melodiana, I have no intention of enslaving any of you. I am forcing obedience in these radicals, but I want yours to be natural, of your own volition."

"Relax Aqua Heart, we've sworn our loyalty to you as long as you keep your promise to return us to Yuidora and to protect the children from our world. We all know it's going to take time to do it, but we will remain loyal. We'd be wrong to fault a woman who is doing the best she can." Melodiana was the one who spoke this time as she gently put her hand on Karen's shoulder and smiled just as gently to try soothing the nerves the CPU is going through since she had to use her mind control magic seven times now: Filia, her sister, Leonard, Reiner, Adelphos, Hamil, and Eldin.

"I would never dream of betraying that promise because it's so deeply ingrained with my own desires. Rose and the Scattered Bones to Glenwood, Bae'lin to Xialara, Garrus and Wrex to their world. Miyo back to the Isnians. Izumi back to her Elbians. So on and so forth. Arcadia's main dream is allowing these foreign dignitaries to return to their homes."

"So we are in agreement then Aqua Heart. Keep to your word about keeping both our promises, and we'll remain by your side. As a warrior of Disnafrody, my word in this regard is my pact."

"Thank you Yuela. Say, considering that I will have to dismiss them as my royal guard since I don't want to risk them being around me anymore, what you would think of becoming the new leader of my royal guard?"

"I'd like a day to think about this. It's a big change from my current position as an enforcer for your guild to the leader of your most elite forces. Regardless of this, I am going to be keeping my eye on that Filia Yuasa woman in case she goes rogue."

"I understand. You know where to find me, but you can always seek out Uzume if it is a challenge to traverse the city and have her inform me of your decision."

"As you wish."

* * *

With Arcadia's own infighting having reached its end, Karen was called by Bae'lin to meet with her in her abode, having discovered more knowledge in her tome and wished to reveal a particular piece of it to Karen, with it being ancient records of Bae'lin's family's ancestors and Thraaklon having gifted the near entirety of the continent of Keisa to the ancient order of knights that appeared out of nowhere, stranded from their world and having lost all of their abilities of self-reliance since they were stuck in a foreign world, during the reign of the CPU that ruled Tari which was being ravaged by constant monster attacks and raiders from outside her territory, and in desperation, this one CPU looked toward this mysterious order of warriors as she offered extensive boons and citadels to operate as bases and settlements for the order in exchange for them acting as military might for the nation. Having accepted the offer, the Parthenian Knights, numbering over a million combatants, with nearly double the number of support staff, at that period of time fulfilled their new responsibility protecting their new sovereign, their duty primarily being patrolling and protecting the nation of Tari for over half a century, in that time 'stealing' most faith and reverence from the people for their bravery in fighting the monsters from the people as they were doing more for the nation than their own CPU did regarding defense from outside threats, constructing and maintaining their settlements, and even internal civil protection with the people beginning to look toward them for protection than their CPU, before the CPU went mad from what she declared heresy and exterminated her entire nation when her people no longer worshipped her with very few survivors, them being the Parthenian Knight Order, Thraaklon, the precursor of Bae'lin's family, and a few civilians that managed to reach the citadels owned by the Parthenians during the massacre and were protected by their guardians.

Even though these few peoples survived, the Parthenian Knights feared that this insane CPU would attempt to slaughter everyone in the world so they banded together to fight her but because of how they lacked the ability to properly fight against a CPU, they were unable to truly defeat her but they proceeded to use the knowledge they had assembled living in this world and sealed her away in a pocket dimension they created through the combined effort of what mages they had left as many of them died in the initial attacks. Although they had succeeded in this endeavour, many of the senior Parthenian Knights at the time were slain in battle and the treacherous CPU inflicted the newly appointed leader of the Knights a curse of immortality before she was sealed away, making Karen cringe at the thought: This leader was likely just your average everyday soldier living his life and dedicated himself to aid his fellow knights but he was forced to live the life of immortality when he did the right thing to help his people and avenge the people he was sworn to defend.

It took Bae'lin revealing information of her knowing where the Parthenian Knights had set up their own nation, free of any and all outsiders disrupting their lives, deep within Keisa's territory and live a life with no need to fear others trying to attack them, however Karen knew that their time of isolation was over since they infiltrated and indirectly attacked her nation and she would not have it, though she was wise enough to not depart without asking Miyo to craft a camouflage system to hide her robotic arm, and provoke them into a battle where they would attempt to kill her since she remembers that a single one of their knights could've killed her with only a little more work since that single knight was able to shatter her sacred sword: Benten which was otherwise thought to be indomitable and she departed to meet them with Bae'lin promising to teleport her to the edge of their territory, though to Karen's surprise; Noire, who had arrived in Arcadia earlier that morning and wanted to parley with Karen since she was despising the hatred between her and Karen when Neptune, Vert, and Blanc all liked Karen immensely and Noire wanted to bury the hatchet to forge a better friendship between the pair, requested that Karen bring her along and after a moment's thought, Karen accepted since she would like having both company along the way and a friend backing her up.

After arriving on site with Bae'lin's transportation magic, both Karen and Noire took flight in the direction of the mountain they can just barely see very far to the northwest, suspecting that could be the focal point of civilization for the Parthenian Knights, though they know that even with their flight, it would still take them a couple of weeks to reach it.

"Noire, I'm thankful you came to help me in this matter. I should be hesitant since this is an internal matter that I shouldn't be involving outsiders in, but you have no idea how glad I am to have some company."

"Yeah well, I want to end this pointless little vendetta we have. Neptune, Vert, even _Blanc_ all see you so favorably and I'm the only one who has a grudge. I don't want to be seen as a bickering child whining over how her friends were taken away by a newcomer or anything like that. I'm not all that good with this sort of thing. I'm stuffy, I won't lie about this, so I understand if you hate me."

"Noire, you're letting this blow way out of proportion. If I had any sort of anger or disdain toward you, it's only because you seemed to go out of your way to fight me when I tried being diplomatic. What I say here may seem condescending but if I may be a little blunt, but if you stopped acting like that, I would return kindness in turn. Furthermore, Kei speaks of you very highly and you're the most level-headed CPU out of the four I've seen. Not going to lie, but I find that admirable. Vert's way too obsessed with her gaming, Blanc does have a fiery temper that rivals anything I've ever seen in my, admittedly short, life, and Neptune, goddess I am not going there. You're the most level-headed in general and I need some normalcy when I visit the mainland."

"T-Thanks for that. I appreciate it. Besides, I heard about what you went through when you fought one of these Parthenians, whoever they are anyway. That knight shattered your best sword after all. That sort of thing should be impossible since our holy CPU blades should be indestructible. Speaking of which, here; I had this custom made through my factories. I would use it myself, but it's a piece of garbage compared to mine so you can have it. If I knew it was trash, I wouldn't have given it all the proper enchantments needed for a CPU's weapon. Such a waste of my valuable time." Noire quickly pulled out a rather fancy 'anime' looking sword with a black handle running down the blade and a bronze red colored blade nearly made to resemble lightning as the blade has curves on both sides of the blade carefully refined at perfect 90 degree angles, though the fact it lacks a guard confounds her, and passes it to Karen along with a sheath for it, who fought to hide a frown at how Noire has called it a piece of garbage as she simply inspects the weight of the sword, finding it to be a perfect fit to Benten when she's in human form and after judging the magic embedded within, the power feels nearly equivalent or even stronger than Benten was, though she noticed it lacked the ability that allowed her to have the skill of a master swordsman since all of the training she had been undergoing beforehand is more than enough in this regard. This surprised her quite a bit since she had never let Noire actually hold her sword so she had the sword's weight based off mere sight of Karen's battle style the one time they actually sparred. Karen couldn't help but be surprised at how well Noire can handle analysis.

" _Noire said this was garbage. Yet I can tell it's so strong...is Noire's sword stronger than I thought, or is she acting like a tsundere from one of those cliche anime I watched when I was younger? Hiding compliments behind insults._ " Karen looked toward Noire after inspecting the sword and noticed the girl looking away, witnessing a tiny blush on her cheeks " _Heh, she really is lying about this. When she heard my sword was destroyed, she must have rushed to get a replacement made so I'd have a weapon to use, in addition to how I presume she wanted to gift me something as goodwill. Thank you Noire._ "

* * *

As the pair continued flying, they quickly feel a ripple envelop their bodies, giving both a mild headache and when the sensation passed, they began to feel their power, slowly granted, being drained in this space

"Ugh, this place has all but severed our connection to our sharicites. Karen, for both our sakes, we should shut down our HDD and go on foot. Remember that because of the enchantments our weapons have, they're dependent on share energy too and we've been cut off from it, so let us conserve our power in case we have to fight later on."

"Aside from the whole matter of how long it'd take for us to walk toward the mountains there, good idea Noire."

The pair quickly touch down to the ground and disengage their HDD forms as they begin inspecting the surroundings, noticing that now that they have chosen to not fly to conserve their power, they need to find a settlement to gather information and hopefully a more convenient form of transportation and happen to see what happens to be a farming village within a day's journey from where they are and begin walking in that direction, talking along the way

"There's a village way over there Noire. While we are CPUs that don't need to eat or sleep or anything, I really would like the idea of not having to walk for who knows how long. Besides, we're going to need directions if we're going to find the Parthenian Knights. If I know anything regarding massive orders of this sort, they require a significant base to house all of their members and an equally large city to house their supporters." With this in mind, the two CPUs began walking in the direction of the village.

"I'd honestly want to track these guys down fast so we can return to our countries but your logic is sound. Better to take things slow than end up facing them in battle."

"Yeah, a single knight could've easily wiped out my entire allied force; he actually sent a fair number of my team to Arcadian Central. Horrifying."

"You know, speaking of that. How did you beat that one knight?"

"Not really sure to be honest Noire. I was possessed by someone and he activated some sort of form that resembles our Hard Drive Divinity but the thing is, I had zero control over myself but the power I had was remarkable. Whoever did this somehow managed to seal away the magic the knight had which seemed to render him a regular man."

"Interesting. Does that mean their strength is primarily magical in nature?"

"No idea. An idea that has been going through our heads is that the man was operating through the system of geas. By enforcing some sort of limitation, he was able to overwhelm us all and extend the same power to his followers. Once again, this is just a suspicion of mine."

"If it's true, there's very good reason to be worried. I don't know much about this whole geas thing, but if you're sure this is the case, if the geas is easily attainable with such great benefits, we're going to be in trouble if they prove hostile. Especially if they're able to compound the effect. Imagine the chaos they could-"

"Noire, please stop! You're really starting to terrify me!"

"S-Sorry."

* * *

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 6 - Karen + Noire

During the walk toward the village in the distance, Karen couldn't help but feel apprehension as she and Noire walked further into the territory of what could be the deadliest fighters in the land since the strongest swordsman Karen knew of was taken down so easily at the knight's hand

"You okay Karen? You're shivering more than you were before."

"Not going to lie Noire, I'm really damn terrified entering this place. I fought a single knight from this country and I could've died; same with a lot of my people. I don't like the fact that I'm entering the frying pan of my own volition. I've already been near death three times now. Against CFW Judge when we first tried to save you and the others, the Guardragon that had that deadly venom which was poisoning people, and then against Paraskevas. I feel like I'm making my fourth trip to oblivion, and I seriously don't want to test my luck any more than I have been already. I'm not a cat who has nine lives for crying out loud."

"You won't need to worry this time. You have the best CPU in the land supporting you. Anyway, er, do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Shoot. If I can answer, I'll try." Karen couldn't help but give a gentle smile at Noire's encouragement, especially when she noticed that Noire was trying to hide her own uneasiness in her voice.

"I've heard brief mention of people called Asuna, Keiko, Rika, Sylvia, Amaterasu, and people like that from Haruka off-hand when we were fighting CFW Brave before the Deity of Sin and afterwards before we returned to Planeptune. Are they people from your world?"

"Oh most certainly. They're our closest friends who we were separated from when Histoire drew us here to save you guys. It's been about two years already and I can't help but get a little downcast though I have met a few amazing people by coming here: Miyo, Izumi, Garrus, Bae'lin, Uzume, among many others. Over the last few days, I've gotten a lot closer to the people from Wil's group. In fact, there is one thing I am looking forward to when I return to the capital."

"What exactly would that be?"

"Serawi and Suina have said they want to give me a makeover to look like a fabled mythological goddess from the country of Disnafrody from their world and Yuela wants to do her part by crafting the proper attire for such a country, even if it'd be a recreation with entirely different materials. I can't help but feel eager to bear witness to this."

"I have no idea what this Disnafrody is, but I'm all for rather exotic clothes. You know, I actually used to have a master artist working for me who designed nearly all of my current clothes. I know most of Gamindustri knew little to nothing about the whole extradimensionals thing, but I was very good friends with one of them. Her name was Aufisa."

"Oh yeah, Trifecta told me a little about her. Aufisa apparently was in your employ as a cosplay artist right?" The mention of the words 'cosplay artist' make Noire stiffen in shock as her eyes immediately warp into one of extreme surprise and uneasiness.

"Y-Y-You know...about it…? My hard kept secret...revealed so casually." Noire was whimpering as she spoke this, clearly feeling both betrayed and very much depressed but she quickly looked toward Karen "Please tell me that you have not told anyone about this!"

"I'm not the sort of person who blabs secrets Noire. I know people, I won't give their name because of privacy's sake, all I'll say is that they're people I fought alongside back in Aincrad, who were self-conscious regarding cosplay, especially in public. Don't worry."

"Good. It was actually thirty years ago that I found Aufisa. I was coming back from Lowee since I was visiting Blanc wondering what it was like living with twins and I happened to see her passed out near the mountains along the border. When I touched down and took a look at her, I noticed her clothes were badly battered, she was covered in dirt and her breathing was ragged. I was worried about her condition so I rushed her back to my Basilicom at near mach speed flight and immediately called a doctor to check on her. After she administered some treatment, it was discovered that she was sleep deprived and starving since she said she barely ate in a week when she regained consciousness. When she recovered, I found she was rather...eccentric to put it kindly. She's not one to beat around the bush but I did admire her strong work ethic and her powerful ability to draw anything. In fact, she was even the one who helped in the remodeling of my Basilicom. It used to be very different from what it is now, but Aufisa drew a design which really helped emphasize the streamlined nature my nation was developing at the time. My Basilicom used to be massive and clunky but she really helped give a more modern approach. And to think she drew up the entire concept in a painting when I told her I wanted a building to display my pride as both a CPU and a ruler in addition to my wanting a future proof design."

"Wow, she drew up a painting for such an advanced building by herself? Especially when she was given such vague direction? No wonder Trifecta wanted to recruit her for my country to design military armaments."

"I don't blame her. Aufisa's a real master in terms of her artistry. It's why when the developers of Four Goddesses Online 2 was looking for a talented artist, I urged her to apply for the position since she'd be getting sizable paychecks if she got the job since I wasn't in a position where I could pay her since she was considered a live-in servant. I gave her a roof over her head and enough food and water to keep her alive, but not much else. But what caught me off-guard is that she told me she didn't care about money, only her work as an artist. So look, if you do plan on hiring Aufisa, make sure she brings her attendants with her."

"Why is that a concern Noire?"

"She easily gets obsessed over her paintings and drawings Karen. To the point where she neglects her own needs. I've worked with her for nearly thirty years so I know her very well. In her first year working at my Basilicom, I asked three members of my Sanctuary division of my Basilicom's staff to focus solely on her well being and be forceful when necessary. I insisted on this because I saw her passed out during one of her art crazes. I told her that if she wanted to remain in my Basilicom, she would have to accept their help and she thankfully accepted it with no complaints and things have been very calm since then. Those three tend to her needs and that gives her all the time in the world to draw and paint. Furthermore, If you want to use Aufisa's talents as an artist to the fullest, you're going to want to buy the software she uses."

"Okay then, what is the software and how much does it cost?"

"It's a proprietary system owned by the developers of Four Goddesses Online called Cloud Splice focusing on extremely high-detail 3D drawing techniques meant for professional level work for massive companies or that of a master artist with deep pockets or rich sponsors. They do allow some outside use but they charge a great fee in response. As for the price...you're looking at nearly ten to twenty million credits a year. Renting the source material itself is ten, but with all of the additions she needs for her work, that racks up to double the price."

"T...Twenty million credits a year...Noire...is Aufisa w-worth the price of this?" Karen couldn't help but stutter at the mere thought of having to spend twenty million credits alone on maintaining Aufisa's skill as an artist " _Uzume, if you do this, I'm forcing this debt on you! You're the one who wanted to recruit her, not me. Even if she is a skilled artist, I doubt Kei would allow spending this kind of money every year._ "

"When you consider that one of the best selling points of FGO2 is the amazing art to where it annually takes in billions of credits, _largely from Vert_ , and when Aufisa is one of the only artists working in the team, she makes a minimal of fifty million credits a year. Have Trifecta negotiate a deal with the developers and if she's as skilled with diplomacy as she was back in that war chamber in the game, you probably won't have to pay a single credit. Honestly, she has some freaky gift. She recently was somehow able to convince me to ship a factory's worth of raw materials and machines with no drawback from her and couldn't even fight her proposal. Next time you see her, tell her she'd better pay me something for all the materials I shipped to your country."

"Materials? What did she order?"

"A lot of metals and electronics to be honest. I think she's trying to build some sort of high-tech machine. Has she told you anything about it?"

"Not really no."

"This may just be my being pouty from how she conned me, but keep an eye on that woman. She may be good at keeping it shrouded in darkness, but I just know she's keeping secrets from all of us. She may be helpful, but for your own sake Karen, don't let your guard down around her. She could very well be planning something."

"While I wasn't exactly feeling that way, I do have my suspicions based on how much she was helping me. While I was pushing myself to help everyone back in Aincrad and Alfheim, I did have my own self-interests in the matter alongside everyone else: Escaping those worlds. But Trifecta has said she's been acting solely for my sake and I did call out on it a while ago. But isn't it better to have an enemy you know than one you don't?"

"I guess, but I'd rather have no enemies in situations like this."

* * *

Back to Story

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [16:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Sharre Village]

After spending hours wandering through the fields, the two CPUs finally arrived at the village surrounded on all sides by a river, finding it to be have a very simple feel with its medieval wooden architecture, though when they tried to enter, a lightly armored militiaman wearing a dark indigo colored platemail and a near fully enclosed helmet blocking all but the man's violet eyes stood in their way as he looked down toward the two girls in front of him

"Welcome to Sharre village. It's rare for us to get outsiders all the way out here. What brings you here girls?" In contrast of the intimidating appearance the man portrays with his armor masking his appearance, his voice was very friendly and welcoming despite him obviously not knowing them since this is their first time visiting the village.

With a brief glance exchanged between Karen and Noire, the latter's expression asking her to take the lead in this explanation, Karen looks toward the soldier and began thinking just what to say in this situation before coming up with a situation that could work in this case "My cousin here and I are traveling the countryside studying plants to see if there are any we could add to our personal gardens. This is our first stop in this little journey of ours."

"That is very admirable. But why did you not ask any of the Parthenian Knights in your community to escort you? They operate all over the country."

This particular revelation of information made them both doubletake in unease as Karen tries thinking a way to talk her way around this current predicament before coming up with something she could use "We're actually not from any of the major cities. We live in a small forest pretty far away."

"Not to be rude sir, but my cousin and I are pretty exhausted from a long journey and we'd like a place to rest for the night. Is there anywhere we can stay?"

"We don't have much in the way of lodgings for outsiders since we're so remote. I can speak with our chief and see if we can arrange shelter for the night though."

With this said, Karen and Noire are led through the village, having noticed that the fields before they arrived in the village were heavily withered since, while there were patches of green in the plains, it had lost a great deal of color, hinting that the land is suffering from soil degradation and when their gazing was noticed by the guard escorting them, he stopped and looked toward them, his eyes showing a good deal of sorrow "I guess this is hard to hide. Ever since I was a child, thirty five years ago, the land has been in a major state of decline. It's been increasingly tough for us to grow crops all over the country, in fact the Parthenian Knights has desperately been trying to find a way for us to get more food to feed our people."

" _You hear that Noire? We have a way to negotiate with them now. An incredibly difficult one granted, but a way._ "

" _Be careful not to overextend yourself Karen. Don't make deals you can't keep. I hope you do know that trying to provide food for over a million people at least is, naturally, very difficult._ "

" _Who do you think I am? My nation was designed with the idea of achieving miracles and I have the means to achieve them, even if it takes me time. Besides, my chief engineer has already begun working on the means of exponentially increasing both the size of our food plants and our productivity rates since we're bringing in outsiders from foreign lands and stranded refugees from other worlds. Food production needs to be exceeded._ "

" _Just be careful okay._ "

* * *

After wandering through the village and meeting with the chief with the question of where the two CPUs would be sleeping for the night, and after pondering the idea with his knowledge of everyone in the village, having been leading it since he became an adult and being born in it, and considering that space is a situation that needs to be considered, they were urged to seek out Tume Anamari who has been running a daycare/orphanage in the village for children whose parents work so much to care for them or tend to travel a great deal away from the household. With the decision being made by the chief, Karen and Noire walked through the village and quickly came across the large brick building with a rather noticeable plaque above the door saying 'Anamari Apothecary'

"An apothecary? I thought the chief said this Tume runs a daycare and orphanage center. Why would he say otherwise?" Karen was confused at this turn of events and looked toward Noire to see if she had a thought for this.

"You think this could be Tume's main profession and she looks after the kids as a side job?"

"Maybe." Karen muses with a calm nod as both she and Noire gently knocks on the door with the back of their hands though the moment they touch the door, they are barraged with a great number of near deafening screams from children making them retract their hands as they grip their heads as a result of the scream rattling their sanity for a brief moment, but to their surprise, the noise instantly vanished, to their relief.

"Erm, was whoever in there being loud for just a moment before being quieted?"

"No, the time scale don't match up. Even if they were well-behaved, it's impossible to stop all noise in that short a time. While I'm not well-versed with babysitting like Mamoru, I know that basic fact." To test a theory going on in her head, Karen placed her hand against the door again and was overwhelmed by the sound of screaming yet again, making her repeat the cycle of pushing away from the door to stop the noise and began to fall to her knees "Owwwww."

"You okay Karen?" Noire was quick to catch Karen before she fell to the ground outright and kept her stable until she felt ready to get back up.

"I'm fine, just a bit...off. Thanks Noire. There's some sort of voice suppression built into the walls."

It took a moment for Karen to regain her senses which had been dulled from the two bouts of heavy screaming she suffered and not long after, the door finally opened as a young woman with curly red hair hung down into twintails reaching down to her chest and cerise eyes, wearing what resembles a nun's uniform but with a red frilled jacket with the dual-layered hood being pulled up which covers the upper half of her head and a long staff with a large pink indented crystal at the tip on her back, though Karen quickly noticed the woman wearing a necklace with gold embellishments, carrying the same kind of crystal as a gemstone

"Welcome, are you two here to get your children?" Despite the cheery tone the woman had in her voice, the fact bags could easily be seen below her eyes, showing that she is rather fatigued.

"Erm, we're not parents to any of the children here Miss Anamari. The chief told us to seek you out regarding seeking shelter for the night."

"Oh. I really was hoping you were-" Her cheery disposition faded as she looked downward for a moment before returning her attention to the girls in front of her "The chief said you could find a place to sleep here? Of course he would. At least I'll have adult company for once. Come on in."

Following her request and accepting what seem to be a pair of earbuds for voice suppression, Karen and Noire followed the weary woman through the building, sidestepping young children running through the halls around them though Tume stopped when a child who appears to be around eight with cyan hair ran toward her with tears running down his face, his hands attempting to hide a sizeable bump on his head

"Miss Anamari, Hector hit me again!"

"Don't cry Zane, let me see it." Tume cooed as she gently moved Zane's hand from his head as she began looking over the injury on his person "Yikes, this one is particularly bad. Hector seriously needs to learn to stop his constant fighting. Mami, could you come out here please?"

After Tume called for the girl in question, a girl with silver hair hung in both an intake and a ponytail at her back with a large white ribbon in her hair and amber colored eyes who looks about half the age of the boy, wearing a very simple peach colored one-piece dress, limped over as she kept a firm grip on a rather simple bronze staff to keep herself up and silently began using an exotic form of healing magic which enveloped the boy's head, healing the wound rather quickly but when she noticed Karen and Noire, she let out a mild shriek of fear as she tried to run away in fright but ended up falling to the ground, landing on her stomach in the process and the sight of it all had Tume quickly move to pick up the girl into her arms

"I-I apologize for Mami here. She's not the best around people, she's only really comfortable around myself, Zane, and Hector. Zane, could you please gather everyone into the dining room? Dinner will be ready soon." Tume crouched downward for a brief moment as she spoke to the boy who swiftly nodded and dashed elsewhere.

"It's alright Miss Anamari. But she collapsed so suddenly, is she okay?" Karen obviously had some concern regarding the fact she appeared so weak when she approached and the fact she collapsed when she attempted to run and seemingly knocked herself into unconsciousness in the process amplified this.

"Erm, well, considering how she is normally, she's fine. Though in all fairness, she's suffering from some sort of disease I've never encountered before she contracted a few years ago. She's been staying here ever since a little after her birth, longer than anyone else who has been here in fact, save me and my family."

"Erm, is it okay for her to be around others if she's sick?" Noire was obviously making this vocal since she has seen many children running about the place.

"Don't worry, her condition isn't contagious as far as I'm aware. I've had nearly twenty different healers of great and varied skill, even a couple of the experienced mages among the Knights, look her over and they all had the same conclusion: whatever she has can't be transmitted to others in any conventional manner. At least, I sincerely hope so."

"You brought in healers to look over the girl? Couldn't you do it since you have a magic staff there? I can sense it so easily." Noire inquired this since she was able to sense the magic emanating from the staff far easier than Karen could since she's been a CPU far longer and has been trained with magic despite how little she actually uses it.

"I actually don't have the gift of magic in my veins. This staff belonged to my father and he passed it down to me before he died. In this regard, I have to rely on Mami, despite her young age, for anything magical. Before she came, my father created noise suppression magic and embedded it in the walls around their room, my room, and the exterior walls since I told them I wanted to start this daycare and orphanage. Magic users outside the Parthenian Knights are rather rare since they only value and train those within their ranks. Anyone with the power not with the Knights are forced to develop their power on their own."

"May I ask what the symptoms of her disease are Miss Anamari?"

"With what I've noticed, she has difficulty with walking without this staff of hers, rigid postures, very little physical emotion, rather weak stamina, a lot more anxiety than I'd expect from a child her age, and her sleep patterns aren't exactly the best, despite my efforts."

* * *

Karen paid attention to what Tume had been saying in regards to the girl's symptoms of her condition, wanting to see if it was something similar she has knowledge of from her world even though the chances were rather remote since they had been living in a secluded environment for millennia, but after hearing of all the symptoms Mami apparently has made Karen recall a list of diseases Earth had compiled and the symptoms reminded her of the condition called Parkinson's Disease.

" _No, it can't be the same thing. There's no way the Parthenians could've been exposed to an Earth disease so it must be some sort of mirror image of the disease I know of. Either way, the fact it's happening to a girl this young is horrible._ "

"Say, could my cousin and I help you with your cooking? I'll feel guilty if I don't help out in some way since we're forcing our presence here." Although Karen knew that Noire was far from heartless, she didn't expect her to go out of her way to volunteer to help a stranger like this.

"You really shouldn't feel that way. It's the chief who put you up to this and I meant what I said before: I'm glad to have other adults here with me, even if briefly. In regard to your offer to help, I would actually very much welcome it as it would give me time to sleep. I left the list of what to make tonight in the kitchen down that way. As soon as I put Mami in her bed, I'm going to try getting to sleep. I don't know how comfortable you are with this, but would you mind sharing my parents' old room over there?"

After hearing Tume's offer, Karen and Noire exchange glances as they wordlessly begin talking with each other and Noire finds herself forced to talk when she was subtly nudged into action by Karen's elbow "It'll be a bit strange having to share a room since we've always slept in different rooms, but we don't want to impose. We'll try to make due."

After seeing Tume walk away with Mami in her hands, Karen and Noire walk in the direction specified by the woman and find the kitchen with no problem and quickly looked through the room looking for the note left by Tume, finding it with ease and both began looking it over, though they both begin to cringe since all of the ingredients are things neither have never heard of, to little surprise since this is a foreign land and quickly look toward each other

"Erm, you know how to make this 'Belembert' Noire?"

"You're asking the wrong person. You know more about these Parthenians than I do. They've been hidden in isolation long before I was born. I doubt even Histoire has any knowledge about these guys. Let me look at the recipe: three pounds of...Rxalia meat as a supplement, three cups of Ammecory juice as coating, a hint of Kacrifron per pound of meat for seasoning, a large bowl of Tashito juice as the base of the meal. Ugh, I don't know any of this!" Noire was getting more and more frustrated the more she read the ingredients and directions in how to prepare this 'Belembert' meal "Karen, could your sleuth ability decipher what we're supposed to do here?"

"Good question actually. I tend to ignore this ability I have since I don't really know what it's really capable of in this world, particularly when I don't get all that many chances to experiment with this power of mine. Back in Aincrad, it focused solely on analyzing statistics of monster's health points, weaknesses, and the like, same with players to an extent. Now, I don't know what it's fully capable of."

After this explanation, Karen tapped the side of her head to trigger the transparent visor that represents the power and looked around the room as dozens of small information packets began pouring into her field of vision, giving her the information she needs in regard to making the meal for the children in the building

"Got it memorized."

With the knowledge being ingrained in her mind, Karen quickly got to work on preparing the meal with help from Noire as they both followed the directions left by Tume and after enough time passed, they finished their cooking and based on the comparison image of what the end result is supposed to be with the actual product, it seems that they succeeded in cooking what appears to be similar to a rather sophisticated type of curry unlike anything Karen has seen prior

"Well, I hope this is to their liking." Noire let out a single discontent sigh as she genuinely hopes that the kids would enjoy the food they had both made.

* * *

Even though the children had been given a mild fright at the sight of newcomers, with this being the first time they actually recognized their presence, save Zane, and this unease held most of the mood until Noire explained that Tume accepted her and Karen's offer to help and this surprisingly dispelled most of their hesitation as they began asking a great number of questions from Noire, to her surprise since she presumed they'd be afraid of her, and left Karen by her lonesome during most of the meal until Zane walk toward her

"Thank you for taking over for Miss Anamari. She's been tired like this for a long time now but still worked to take care of us all even though it was hard on her."

"No need to thank us little one. Considering how tired she was, my cousin and I could hardly leave things as they are. We'd feel guilty if we didn't help out in some way." Karen actually had to fight the subconscious instinct of referring to Zane as 'little human', the very idea baffling her since she herself is human.

" _I think I know what's happening Karen. If I'm right, your mindset is slowly changing because of how you're a CPU and in some way disassociating yourself as human. Even though you still have your human form, the might of your Hard Drive Divinity is slowly warping your mind. It's very easy to resist this, but this temptation will always try to take control. Look, I know I've been moody lately, but this is cause for concern for us both since this kind of corruption could change us both for the worse. Damn it, I should have taken precautions and removed Aqua Heart's physical and psychological profile to allow for a more seamless transition for her new host but I was so damn wrapped up in my pride that I wanted to return as my own person. That would've hopefully prevented this damage._ "

" _Just like the situation with Wil's group, we couldn't have known. Tell me. Is there any way for this power to be removed? Shouldn't all things that can be given be able to be taken away?_ "

" _Not that simple when it comes to HDD. Wait, erm, it might be possible in theory, but the thing is: It involves the CPU memory that was used to make you a CPU in the first place. Unfortunately, I can't even sense its presence in your body so it must have been stolen when we were both asleep. Without it, there's no purpose in going along with this plan._ "

" _Okay, so outright curing is out, but is there any preventive measures we could take? I can't exactly fight off this sort of thing forever._ "

" _Erm...uh...there is one option, but I'm sure you're not going to like it._ "

" _Try me Caelus. I've been at death's door at least three times now, CFW Judge, that Guardragon, and when I was attacked by Paraskevas, and I feel like I am rapidly approaching my next with my seeking out the Parthenian Knights. I doubt this ritual could scare me more than that._ "

" _It's a CPU ritual. That's all I am going to say and that's final! I-If you really want to know more about this, ask Noire. T-That's even if she's willing to go through with it._ "

* * *

Karen felt confused as to why Caelus felt so rattled regarding the whole matter but when she recognized that her usually stern voice was rather panicked, she felt a degree of unease regarding what this ritual entailed since she had only seen her like this one other time, which was when Wrex mentioned that one spanish word which had rattled them both.

After everyone had finished eating, Noire having broken up two fights that were both started by a boy with bronze red hair and eyes as she quickly learned that he was the one Zane had briefly mentioned: Hector, everyone began to leave the dining room to their bedrooms, with Noire and Karen being the last to leave as they took the time to wash the dishes as they found that this particular chore, alongside cooking, was very similar to how it is done in both their nations, and when they finished, they went to the room being loaned to them for the night as they find the room very simply furnished, noticing that there was only one bed which made sense in Karen's mind but didn't exactly give her much in the way of relief in the matter

"So erm, how is this going to work Noire? Should we do some sort of game or something to decide who gets the bed and the other gets the floor with some extra sheets?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. This floor looks outright uncomfortable. Look, I get you may not be comfortable with this, but we really should try to make due with what we have. It's only one night, so let's just share the bed."

"...Sure."

After this unease was put to rest, Noire walked toward the bed and simply sat on it before looking toward Karen with a relaxed form of seriousness

"So what were you talking with Caelus about when that kid was trying to talk with you? Zane I believe."

"Noire, I think, to some extent, that my CPU form is becoming unstable. I am making decisions I detest and I nearly referred to him as a little human. This is nightmarish for me! I should not be acting like this!"

"Karen, I might know what's wrong. You're using a HDD form used by another CPU and the differing elements of her divinity and your own natural soul are in conflict. I've actually encountered issues like this before when our Sharicites find themselves out of whack, in layman's terms. There is a way to correct this though." Noire was rather calm during most of this explanation but she began to blush heavily near the end.

"Caelus might have mentioned that. Is it this embarrassing Noire?"

"Kinda. See, this happened two or three generations before I was born, there were four CPU sisters in this generation similar to how things were before you showed up. According to what the stories say, one of those four was very frail, even in goddess form and her sisters felt very sorrowful at her condition and wanted to find a way to make her able to live more freely since she couldn't even do the tiniest of things without succumbing to illness or physical injury. If it's true, her condition was worse than even that girl with white hair since she was able to walk around, even if she was using support from that staff. I'm rambling, but the ritual is relatively simple to perform and it allowed this CPU to achieve some things without risk to her health by strengthening her HDD. Before I do this, I have to ask you a single question: Do you trust me?"

"This formality of yours is scaring me Noire, but yeah. I do."

"A part of me questions your sincerity, but it's par for the course in this regard. I'll try to be quick, alright?"

* * *

Karen felt even more confused about the whole thing, watching as she watched Noire pull the ribbons out of her hair, letting it flow out of the ponytail style she saw moments and most shocking of all was how the veteran CPU was slowly stripping out of her clothes, eyes closed and cheeks blushed a rosy red, and the sight made Karen's cheeks glow a crimson red at the display

"W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Karen was never more relieved at the fact there was voice suppression in the walls since she imagines that her scream could be heard by over half of the capital city of Arcadia and she felt like she was going to utterly collapse from the embarrassment of seeing her fellow CPU completely nude.

"For one, please don't shout in my ear. I'm as embarrassed as you are, but you don't hear me screaming. Second, this is necessary since the ritual has a bad habit of wrecking clothes."

"Easy for you to say you exhibitionist!" While she didn't mean to throw out this rather rude insult, Karen's mental state just wasn't able to comprehend what the situation at hand was because of how her mind is reeling from shock and is on complete overdrive.

Thankfully, Noire simply let out a single breath in response, clearly not all that offended by Karen's insult "I know you don't mean this, your mind is on the fritz from seeing all this. Karen, I'm going to start and hopefully it'll calm you down."

After she finished muttering an incantation under her breath, Noire walked toward Karen, who was becoming more and more agitated from shock by the second though Karen took note of her floral white skin, her rather modest bust which seemed to be very close to her own compared to Vert's, and her red eyes dewing up in a sorrowful manner close, this caught her by mild surprise since she can only presume that Noire is regretting what she is about to do, cupped Karen's right cheek in her hand and leaned in for a gentle kiss, her tongue very slowly wrapping around the other's, these two acts alone giving Karen the most shock as her eyes widened greatly seeing Noire kiss her so abruptly though the sensation quickly began getting numbed through the spell she casted before as Karen's eyes felt heavy and she soon fell asleep, falling forward into Noire's extended arms and landed on her bosom

"Heh, that certainly did the trick. She does look more at peace now. I just feel bad I had to act in this way and take her first kiss before that boyfriend of hers...Hikaru I think it was did. Especially the fact that I'm not even sure if she likes girls in this way." Noire couldn't help but smile at Karen's more peaceful features which are a huge contrast from how freaked out she was prior even though she had her degree of sadness at how she forced this kind of thing on her "Now, it's time I get to work. I need to straighten out the knots in her connection to her sharicite since it's preventing most of her true power from being accessed. They're twisted and not a natural connection to each other. It should be a natural link but Karen's access to Hard Drive Divinity is artificial, forced upon by your actions CPU Aqua Heart: Caelus." Noire laid Karen out on the bed moments after the sleeping girl fell into her arms, wanting her to have some degree of comfort for the ritual in addition to how she needs the space to do it.

" **Don't even start with me Black Heart. The only reason Karen even lives is because of the HDD I gave her. Authentic connection or not, she's alive only because of my machinations. So don't you dare proceed along this conversation.** "

"Wow, you're quite the bitch aren't you. Makes me wish there was a way to forcibly expunge this particular taint from my friend here. Particularly when this taint is the source of her ailment."

* * *

Giving Caelus no chance to speak, Noire gently pulled Karen's clothes off her body and placed her hand on the girl's chest as she let the magic flow out, rapidly soaring through Karen's soul, running through the marks left by Hard Drive Divinity and the connection it possesses with the sharicite created when she became a CPU

"Oh goddess, no wonder her sharicite is so fragmented. These things are supposed to be sheltered but it's been forced to endure a great deal of stress in unsecured locations. Centuries of misuse and lack of maintenance has weakened it. I'm not even sure if this ritual will be able to heal this kind of damage. I'll have to see."

Knowing she has to do everything she can, Noire kept her hand planted on Karen's stomach to keep the magic meant to fix the connection between her and the sharicite going, twice fighting that subconscious urge to remove her hand since Karen's body was overheating as a mild consequence of the ritual, but that hardly meant she didn't flinch in pain from the sensation and as a means of cooling down the heat, Noire casted the incantation for an ice spell and focused it in her other hand as she placed it on Karen's stomach to try lowering her body temperature since it was escalating out of control but it didn't take long for the initial spell to straighten out the knots to erupt, sending Noire flying a short distance and crashing into the wall

"Agh, that was painful." With a small limp, Noire walked over toward the sleeping Karen and put her hand on her chest again to see if she had succeeded, closing her eyes to focus and run a small projection through the lines to see her work first hand. Her expression softens when she sees that while she has succeeded in the plan of straightening out most of the sources of what was causing Karen to act so differently, but the core problem was one Noire was unable to sort out since it was Caelus' own presence and to her surprise, Karen's life is still dependent on Caelus and trying to remove the latter could very well make the former lose her life " _How is this possible? You would think that her health would've improved to the point where a separation of these two wouldn't cause Karen to die. I know she's been in near-death situations more times than a regular person should be, but...wait, is it possible that her condition is so bad that she's relying heavily, if not entirely, on Caelus? I might need to discreetly bring this information to Miyo and ask for her to use the same treatment she used on Katsuo._ "

Noire was stopped in her tracks when she happened to notice Karen quickly recovering from the magic she used to force her asleep as her eyes were fluttering, and considering the panic she went through when she had seen Noire naked, she quickly put on her sleepwear which comprised of a simple blue striped bra and panties and put a simple pair of white lingerie on the quickly awakening Karen, manipulating her arm to move her previous wardrobe back into her gauntlet's hammer-space inventory

"Karen, you okay?"

"Ugh, kinda. I feel numb all over. And it feels like my strength has been drained to some extent."

"That's common with this ritual Karen. You were relying heavily on a largely defunct system that was ultimately causing a form of corruption to you. I've done what I could to fix it, and practically did it, but unfortunately the main source of this can't be fixed through this ritual. Not perfectly anyway."

"What do you mean main source? What is this problem you're speaking of Noire?" To Noire's relief, Karen didn't have any sort of panic attack at Noire's wardrobe even though it's only a minimal upgrade.

Noire froze in her tracks and looked away with disdain since she didn't want to say what the problem was even though it was crucial to do so

"It's Caelus herself. I doubt she's acting intentionally but she's the source of it all. This is painful for me to say, but in a way, she's acting as a necromancer with your life. While I do have the means to cure you, it would only cause your death."

" _Caelus, is this true? Have you been keeping me at death's door all this time and making me into a marionette?_ "

" _Okay wow, I cannot believe you of all people would say such things. Look, if you want the truth, I'll give it. I am the only reason you are alive now. Ever since that day when you were in the Gamindustri Graveyard trying to rescue the CPUs at first... Karen this is tough for me to say, but you've practically been a zombie since then._ "

" _Z-Zombie? But how? I'm the picture of health._ "

" _That's because of my own magic protecting you. Listen, your vital organs, even to this very day, are badly injured. Do you remember when Compa said that you had bled out completely? The reason for that is I had created shields around your vital organs to protect them from Judge's attack and this had the side-effect of your body receiving very little blood since my shield prevented nearly any from flowing out. I was only able to let small amounts through controlled routes to keep your body alive but a side-effect of this magic is that it has left your organs in a very bad condition. In theory extensive surgery could save you but I'd have to lift the shield and doing so would only give you an hour's worth of life at the absolute most before you die, so we have to make sure you're put on life support before doing so. Karen, I've known this for the longest time, but I had to keep quiet since ASIC needed to be destroyed before it was too late. If it weren't for Uzume's sacrifice back then, we probably would've lost that war and if you were stuck in a hospital undergoing treatment, Gamindustri would be lost. Remember what Chika said when we were in Leanbox in addition to how the Deity of Sin was actually revived to an extent, we had precious little time to spare and we couldn't afford to waste it in a hospital._ "

" _Then why not tell me after the fact when ASIC was destroyed?_ "

" _Trust me I wanted to, but you were so caught up in forming your country that the timing felt wrong and then there was how you got caught up with the gangs and now the Parthenian Knights. That and I was distraught at how I thought the last of my sisters was dead for good. Trust me though, if I knew you would be in danger from this, I would tell you straightaway, even if I was confident I could keep you from harm._ "

After this explanation, Karen looked toward Noire and explained what was going on

"Karen, you _need_ to go to Arcadian Central Hospital. That or any decent Planeptune hospital."

"No."

"But-"

"Noire, you weren't there when that lone Parthenian fought my allied force. If he were given the time, he would've killed us all. You may not know this since we're keeping it under wraps, but nearly everyone was badly wounded, more dead than I'd like to swallow, and even Filia was pretty badly hurt because of the battle and even forced out of battle despite putting up a valiant fight."

"Filia was taken out?! Aside from myself and the other CPUs, she was the strongest fighter in all known history! Thraaklon was stronger granted, but he preferred to stay out of the history books and travel incognito."

"Exactly. It is important that I get treatment yes, but not now. I have no idea how long it'll take and I cannot risk being indisposed while the threat of utter annihilation is at my Arcadia's door. I must ensure that this threat is dealt with before I give myself to the doctors. Besides, Caelus has kept me alive two years with no problems. Surely she can last long enough for me to negotiate an NAP at the very least."

"A NAP? I don't think I know that acronym."

"It stands for non-aggression pact. It essentially means that if I can get them to agree to it, neither Arcadia or Parthenia will engage in warfare against each other. The problem is that I actually have to find a way to get them to agree since the odds are slanted against me. Like I mentioned before, food transport would probably be the most ideal option considering how barren the land looks from out here. I can only imagine how bad it looks the further we go."

"Oh yeah. That's a bit of a foreign concept for us since we've largely been at peace between each other. We bicker granted, but all-out conflict has never been reached."

"Noted. Anyway uh" Karen nervously scratched her growing rosy cheek with her left hand as a particular memory forced its way back into her chain of thought "Was that...kiss necessary for the ritual?"

"Y-Yeah, it was. The ritual can only be done when the other is in a unconscious state and I used a spell to induce such a state on you though it was only possible through the course I used. It's unorthodox I admit, but it was the quickest option I had available."

"And was that deeper part necessary?" The rosy coloring in Karen's cheeks only grew when this question was asked.

"A-Admittedly no, but I kind of got caught in the act and acted subconsciously. I'm guessing you utterly despise me for that?"

"I wouldn't go that far...exactly. You just uh...made me potentially question my sexuality is all."

"I...see. A tiny part of me is relieved, but I understand why you would feel that way nonetheless."

A period of silence followed which felt like it lasted an eternity as Karen and Noire try to ponder just what to say before Noire worked up the will to speak.

"Anyway, we need to be a little serious here. Is our plan the same as before?"

"Indeed. We need to gather more information on this foreign land. Noire, would you mind staying here helping Tume here in this orphanage and talk with the villagers about this country's history, customs, and anything else possible. Try to bring up the knights in conversation when you can, but act with discretion and avoid the idea we know nothing even though we truly don't know anything. Besides, the kids genuinely seem to adore your presence here."

"Okay, but are you going to do?"

"Considering that we learned of the capital's direction during the conversation during dinner, I am going to continue with my mission and head over there. Unless the knights have some sort of hive mind magic, they shouldn't know of my existence so I should be able to move forward without the risk of getting drawn into battle against them. In fact, if I'm lucky, I might be able to encounter one of their outposts or a patrol group and request their protection and escort to the capital." Karen spoke rather fluently as she lifts the illusion on her robotic arm for a moment as she pressed one of the buttons embedded within as a panel opened, revealing a small earpiece as she lightly tosses it toward Noire "Keep that covered over your ear. Use this BLX-15 camouflage communicator to keep in contact with me and keep me informed on anything you believe is vital. It'll allow us to speak in a way similar to telepathy even from long distances. Feel free to gather anything you want but when it comes to contacting me, focus heavily on culture and history."

"Got it. I'll do what I can."

"Thanks. Anyway, it's time we try to rest for tomorrow. We're going to need it."

"Agreed."

The pair were brought out of their thoughts when they heard a knock against their door

"Who could be knocking at this time of night?"

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [8:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Southeast Plains]

Ever since the morning rose, a single knight mage wearing white and gold colored plate armor similar to the enemy knight: Evart yet heavily slimmed down to allow for more precise mobility, and like Evart, the helmet on the individual's head hid everything underneath but was styled in a style resembling an anime mecha with an insectoid theme, had been watching the edge of the country's border from quite a far distance when two people were seen entering, flying through the air though the knight was mildly baffled when the pair touched down to the ground and began walking in the direction of Sharre Village

"How is that possible? How are they capable of flying without our dragons? Hold on. Where have I seen that symbol in their eyes?" A moment's pause followed this question when the knight happened to see the unique power symbols in Karen and Noire's eyes before coming to a realization "Console Patron Units. None of us have seen one, but they had a hand in cursing Grand Master Selles and murdered so many of our predecessors. Our history says they are extraordinarily fierce fighters. They could kill millions with little issue. And with two of them here...I need to warn the others." The knight slowly waved their right hand left to right over the helmet as it dissipated, revealing the individual being a young woman with long blonde hair kept in a tight braid and gold eyes, and with the helmet no longer in the way, the woman put her hand to her ear "Exarch Tirlin, you're not going to believe this sir, but I've just seen two Console Patron Units entering our territory."

"Console Patron Units? Oh blessed gods! Where are you Vizier Lisalon?"

"I'm at the edge of our territory, not far from Sharre Village."

"Lisalon, for your own good, maintain observation from afar. Do **NOT** engage without our vanguards. I will bring this piece of information to Grand Master Selles and have him deploy Obsidian squad and ten thousand knights as reinforcements. Remember that only Obsidian is capable of fighting off the might of Console Patron Units. Also remember our records, written by Grand Master Selles by the way, say that a single one of them slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of our predecessors."

"Yes sir." Despite her choice of words, Lisalon had a bubbling desire of meeting the pair straightforward and prove her own strength despite only being a Vizier and fresh out of training. Although she knows that it would be better to wait and gradually earn it, she has a strong desire to become a Strateon as quickly as she possibly could and against the orders of the Exarch she was assigned to, she set out to Sharre village since she wanted to find a way to draw the pair away so the villagers wouldn't be harmed in the battle.

* * *

After Lisalon arrived in Sharre near dusk, she immediately went to the village chief's house and inquired as to the location of the two newcomers who entered the village and easily learned they had taken up residence in the orphanage for the night because of how enamored the man was because she was a member of the Parthenian Knights

" _Oh right. Anamari Orphanage. I had heard a bit about this from one of the Centuras in the capital during my training. The Anamaris had been running an apothecary for generations but the daughter: Tume has converted the place into a orphanage to tend to children from destitute households. Heart of a saint this one has. If those Console Patron Units dare lay a finger on any of those children and try to harm them, I don't care what my leader says, hell, what Grand Master Selles says. I will murder them both. Even if I find myself killed, I would drag myself up from the pits of Liariam time and time again to ensure they fall._ " Lisalon spoke to herself with feelings of calm serenity that quickly morphed into unbridled rage at the idea of the children being harmed by the pair that arrived in the village. Regardless, she knew she had to hold back until she learned the facts and importantly: pull the CPUs away from the orphanage.

When she arrived at the building's front door, she knocked against it with the back of her armored hand and waited ten minutes with no answer when one of the village's children gently tugged at her leg, making her turn around and look downward toward the child

"Miss Parthenian Knight, it's a bit of a common practice for us to just enter when we have business with Miss Anamari. She's rarely able to reach the front door."

"Isn't that incredibly rude? Barging in without giving a lady of all things ample notice?"

"It's custom here."

Lisalon sighed in disbelief at how much Tume seemingly cared little for privacy based on this new information and after prying the child off her leg, she opened the door to the building and looked around the interior and couldn't help but wonder which room the two CPUs were staying in and simply guessed as she knocked on the first door she noticed and was met with the sight of a girl with her black hair flowing out wearing rather simple lingerie revealing most of her figure. The sight of this made Lisalon truly glad that she is wearing her helmet since her cheeks are flaring a crimson red from embarrassment, best shown in her slow lumbering movements inside the room.

"Uh, any reason you're nearly naked miss?" Despite the helmet blocking all visible signs of her distress, her voice did well enough to reveal her emotions "T _his is a Console Patron Unit? A girl who eschews the concept of modest attire? Showing this much skin when one is not cleaning her body is disgraceful._ "

"This is what I wear when I sleep. Who are you anyway?"

"I am Vizier Lisalon of the Parthenian Knights. You will give me the respect my station deserves Console Patron Unit."

* * *

The revelation of the woman's connection to the Parthenian Knights made both Karen and Noire jump in shock as they faced the knight with a tranquil fury

"Now listen. If you want to fight us, we'll fight you. But not here and not now. We're exhausted from a long journey and looking after all the children here, and we refuse to endanger the lives of the people here. We can fight out in the fields away from town where no one else will be harmed by our attacks."

"You're surprisingly civil for a murderous goddess who killed many of our knights and the people we swore to protect way back then."

"Lisalon, the CPU of Tari existed in an era long before any of us. Black Heart here was born long after the fact and I'm not even native to this world, so neither of us could've been involved in the slaughter of both your fellow knights and the people you were dedicated to protect."

"How are you aware of Tari's existence? It was destroyed over thirty to fifty millennia ago."

"H-Huh? How is that possible? How was it that long ago? I thought Tari existed only a few millennia ago, not thirty to fifty! My main source of information said that Tari was destroyed two thousand years before her birth and I very much doubt she's that old. As to how I know of Tari, I got the information from the descendant of the scholar who gifted this continent to your order, who incidentally was an ally of Warlord Thraaklon." Karen had difficulty comprehending this piece of information. While she did know she didn't know just how much time passed between Caelus' fight against ASIC's deity in the past and the present, there was a two thousand time span she was aware of between the Caelus' birth and the fall of Tari, but considering that Caelus has said she was in a dying state and had reverted to a disc form to conserve energy, there's no way she could've survived up to forty eight millennia at the minimal. That also brings up the question of how old Thraaklon truly was and how long they had been living off this land before it began to decay. This was not making sense to her.

"Thraaklon?! You know Warlord Thraaklon? The man who helped secure our position as guardians during the era of Tari and our status here on Keisa? Where is the man? Grand Master Selles would be overjoyed to see him after so long."

"He lost his life a decade ago."

"Unfortunate. Regardless of whether you know him, you invaded our land CPUs and we will not allow you to attack our people."

"Talk about hypocrisy much. Your knights attacked my friend's nation and killed her people! For guardians of the innocent, you certainly have zero qualm killing those who didn't deserve it."

"What are you talking about? We Parthenian Knights would never kill the innocent!"

"Don't give me that crap. Evart infiltrated my country, allied himself with a gang of criminals, and committed crime throughout my capital. He fought with all intent to kill me and my people."

"Evart? Strateon Evart? Impossible. He wouldn't...he would. He always has been corrupt with power and driven to do anything to expand and maintain his station. Damn it Evart. Listen, the way things are, you're likely to die. I present an offer to you Console Patron Units that will allow you to live."

"Why the sudden change of heart Lisalon? Why would you suddenly want to help us when your organization showed hostility toward my nation?"

"Our empire exists because of Thraaklon's intervention and this is our fault to begin with. I'm a lowly Vizier but Grand Master Selles values every one of his knights so he will at least hear me out. Here's my plan of action. When morning breaks, allow me to place you under a sleep spell and I'll bring you to the capital to speak with Grand Master Selles. I caught a glimpse of how you look in your Console Patron Unit form and you are not the one who cursed our grand master so you should not be punished for the crimes of another."

"You buy this garbage Aqua Heart?"

"It is a little tough to swallow I won't lie Black Heart. I'm all for seeking friendships with foreign nations but when considering they killed a fair number of my people, I don't know if I should trust them."

"Now you're just trying to freaking spite me. I'm different from Evart. Realize that I want to achieve some cooperative symbiosis between us. If I were truly hostile, I would simply knock you both out and transport you to the capital for punishment. Instead, I am giving you the option of saving your life. I would not be negotiating like I am now."

"Allow me to ask you a question then Lisalon. Are you the only know who knows of our presence?" Recalling the deadly battle she fought against Evart prior, Karen had to ask this question she had on her mind.

"I have kept the information of your appearance to myself for now but I did inform my superiors of your presence, and they have responded by deploying our most elite knights and ten thousand more of varying skill as reinforcements. In our eyes, they are necessary for dealing with a Console Patron Unit."

"I see. Black Heart, I want you to stay here and help Tume here at this orphanage. Keep a low profile. In the morning, I'll go with Lisalon here. Our plan has always been reaching the capital and having a member of the Parthenian Knights escorting me will certainly be a nice plus."

"I don't like the idea of you being thrown to these Knights Aqua Heart. But I'm not in a position where I can stop you."

"Get some sleep. We'll leave tomorrow morning Console Patron Unit. I'll go to the village stables and request a horse and cart for then."

* * *

After seeing the knight walk out of their room, the pair quickly felt fatigue take over their bodies and let themselves fall into sleep to prepare for tomorrow's events; Noire's being her involvement in helping Tume in the orphanage and Karen's own plan to follow Lisalon to the Parthenian Knights' capital though both girls found it difficult to sleep once the knight returned since she remained in a single spot lumbering like a human statue watching them at all times though that quickly fades much like their own consciousness as sleep got the better of them.

When Karen awoke from her sleep from the sensation of bumps shaking her body, she found that she was in a covered cart being pulled by a large white horse with bright fiery red and gold colored fur on its head, tail, and feet, and when she looked down at herself, she found herself wearing a simple white dress and lying on piles of hay arranged to keep her comfortable despite the constant bumps. When she took a look at the outside, she found that the sun was rising as the landscapes were cloaked in a faint red and orange color and on the other side, Lisalon is seeing diligently leading this cart across the fields though she tilted her head to the side as she heard Karen's awakening

"Ugh, I would've liked a more peaceful awakening if the option existed. How long have we been on the road Lisalon?"

"You recovered from my magic remarkably fast Console Patron Unit. Remarkable. To answer your question, about an hour. I was able to request an Aqua Burmese horse which is one of the absolute fastest horses available to our people. They have near limitless stamina and they hardly need food or water because of how much magical alterations we've made to the species over time to make them more durable and capable of survival in less than ideal conditions. And to think they were just your average breed when we first encountered them here in this land. Based on how fast this one is going, we'll reach the capital in seven days."

"I see." Karen looked back toward the field and noticed very few green patches of nature mixed in with a large amount of brown dead grass "This is horrific. The further we seem to get, the less beauty I see in the fields around us."

"That's the world we Parthenians have been born into. Even this far out into our territory, nature is dying. Nothing we do has been able to restore it despite the frantic efforts of our magic users. Many Parthenians are becoming extremely pessimistic and are believing it is our ultimate fate to simply die out. Even the knights are succumbing to this and it is so very disheartening to see, seeing my proud comrades-in-arms letting themselves fall into this depression. We are allowing ourselves to fall into a self-destructive downward spiral and it needs to stop somehow. I want to become a Strateon to inspire people to keep searching for a way to break this cycle."

"Say, what you say if I wanted the same thing for your people? To save them from destruction and give your great combat capabilities a noble purpose."

"You think the Parthenian Knights would willingly swear themselves to a Console Patron Unit's rule when our last 'master' murdered nearly all of our protectees and many of our knights?"

"I'm not asking your order to swear themselves to obey me. I am not big on forcing unique cultures to dismantle themselves. One of my greatest prides in my country's existence is the blending of all the cultures we are acquiring. I ask you not to join as a vassal to my country. I ask you to become allies with me where we give and take assistance. I'll provide food, you provide soldiers when the need arises."

"And what situation would require use of an army Console Patron Unit? This world is peaceful."

"At present, yes, but soon. Very soon; this world is going to become one of death unless proper steps are taken. It will be a world where no one will be spared. Arcadia, Parthenia, Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, Leanbox. Any other countries or settlements in the great ocean. They would all be destroyed given enough time no matter their resistance. My allies all say this will happen within ten years time and like hell I'd let it happen. I'll scratch your back by providing food to keep your people fed with our food plants."

"Let me guess. You'll do this in exchange for some of our troops to support your country. Seems like a reasonable trade in my honest opinion. A military deployment in exchange for food to feed our people. I'll need to bring this up when we speak with the Grand Mas-" Lisalon stopped as she quickly took off her helmet and tossed it backwards as she moved her free right hand to her ear.

"Vizier Lisalon, Obsidian and the support squads have reached Kulbate Village. What is your status?"

"Inquisitor Glerrok, you probably won't believe me, but I drove away one of the Console Patron Units and placed the other in a deep sleep with my magic. I'm bringing the prisoner to Selsmire." Lisalon was saying one thing and acting another as she give a small nod toward Karen regarding the status of the two CPUs since she is acting independently from the orders she was given.

"Y-You defeated the Console Patron Unit Vizier Lisalon? T-That's extraordinary! I'll bring the information to Grand Master Selles! If this is true, a promotion to Exarch or Inquisitor will not be unforeseeable. Regardless, we should remain on guard. I'll have the knights maintain a tight watch on our border in case the enemy returns with a larger force."

"Yes sir, I'm on route to Selsmire with an Aqua Burmese and are due to arrive within seven days. I don't plan on stopping at any of the other towns since I don't want to risk this Console Patron Unit awakening before I can reach our capital. I will make a few stops for food, but nothing else."

"Understandable. Be safe Vizier Lisalon."

* * *

Because of how Karen had been staring at the countryside while Lisalon was speaking with her superiors, she didn't notice Lisalon remove her helmet, quickly seeing that instead of what she presumed would be a regular human face based on the armor, Lisalon's looked almost similar to a giant beetle but with dark green and black reptilian scales

"WAH!" Saying that Karen was shocked by the appearance of the knight was an understatement, particularly when Lisalon turned around revealing her near dead looking black eyes shaded by the green scales on her head

"You must be shocked by my appearance Console Patron Unit. It is a side-effect of one of our experimental magicks that merged with our genetic magic network several generations ago. You see, every Parthenian Knight, aside from our grand master, is capable of magic to some extent and while our warriors are largely unaffected, those of us who are especially fluent in magic are prone to succumbing to a mutation that gives us these 'enhancements' because of that magic corrupting our hive mind magic network. We were able to contain the damage quickly but it's impossible to remove without consequence. Because of this, we tend to willingly trap ourselves in these armors since they are enchanted to allow us to fit the image of human beings. It's easy to disguise this insectoid appearance, but it's always temporary and a challenge to recast the spell, so we tend to prefer staying within our armor."

"Oh...I-I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Say, considering we're going to be on the road for a week, particularly since you're not going to be stopping at any major towns during that time, you mind if I pass the time with a few games?" Karen tested this theory of her by seeing if she could still access her nation's networks within this barrier, and found that she could, but just barely.

"Are you seriously expecting me to waste time playing games with you?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't demand that of you considering you're the driver here. I just want to connect to my nation's network and play some of our games."

"And how do I know you won't call for help?"

"Cause I'm not stupid. Evart could've easily wiped my entire group out if he were given the chance and that was a single fighter. I'm not endangering my friends and people in a futile effort to fight your order. Besides, I was using a sword that was enchanted to be unbreakable under any circumstance but the man was able to do just that."

"Very well. As long as it'll keep your attention off me. Say, will you need food or anything similar during the trip Console Patron Unit?"

"Thanks for the concern, but even in human form now, I have no need for food, water, or sleep. They feel good since I wasn't always a CPU but it's not necessary."

"Got it. Enjoy your gaming I guess."

* * *

With this, Karen reconnected her gauntlet's network with Arcadia's own but the fact her connection is so frail means that her access is very limited so she wouldn't be able to do much, and with this in mind, she opened a telepathic line with Miyo since she was the one who created nearly all of her technology

"Miyo, could I ask you for a-" Not long after Karen started her telepathic connection with her chief engineer even though she knew the likelihood of her being awake at this hour was slightly remote, but then again her sleeping and work schedules were always on the erratic side, best shown by how she was actually awake, she was met with a mild shout from the engineer.

"K-Karen, this is not a good time okay!" Karen felt a degree of confusion since Miyo's voice was stifled as if she's wearing some sort of mask.

"What's wrong Miyo? I've rarely heard you this flustered."

"I'm working on a new project that desperately needs my foresight in all stages of the development. What do you need?"

"I need a signal booster for my gauntlet's computer systems. I'm being escorted to the capital of these Parthenian Knights but it's going to take a week and I want to acquire some means of passing the time with things my country has to offer."

"Fine." Karen noticed that Miyo's voice was one completely full of irritation and contained rage toward her at the time but Karen accepted the belief that she is interrupting Miyo's project and that would cause Miyo to harbor some momentary anger toward her, especially with how seriously she takes her science and noticed her gauntlet's systems receive a brand new upgrade "There. I included the same kind of signal booster Tenn uses along with all of the upgrades I wanted to add. Now leave me alone for now." Just to show how annoyed she was, the moment she finished speaking, Miyo shut down the line between them and even shut down her communication systems so she can't be contacted again until she turns it back on.

But with her needs now fulfilled, Karen decided to open a line to the Basilicom to see how Kei is arranging interviews and applications since they came to an agreement to let Kei handle hiring the regular staff like custodians, greeters, security, and the like without Karen's seal of approval, but when it came to the positions of ministers for energy, foreign relations, military in both defense and offensive affairs, education, and other such fields, Kei would be allowed to let her interview anyone she believes to be qualified for such positions, they both know the subject of military would be difficult to achieve since Gamindustri at large has been a pacifistic world for a long time but came to the agreement that if no one they both support is found for the role, they would appoint Garrus for the position, but Karen and Kei would have to come to an agreement regarding their skills and background.

"Good morning my Oracle. How is the search for our ministers and staff?"

"Good morning as well Lady Aqua Heart. In the last two days, I have employed five hundred new staff members to handle maintaining this Basilicom and I have compiled resumes from twenty candidates for each minister position save military affairs. Like we feared my lady, none of our applicants are qualified to act as a general of your future armies so we will have to ask Garrus to consider taking up the position. Those that applied are skilled fighters yes, but leading the military is out of the question. That or possibly consider Mamoru Nakasone. Despite his young age, I've been told he was the one who led the charge against CFW Judge in the Junk Box dungeon even though Neptune was the team leader in addition to what I've heard of your campaigns against the gangs."

"Let's cross that bridge when we reach it Kei. I'll look over the applicants today and we can arrange follow-up interviews in due time. I have a lot of free time since I have nothing much to do for a week. Let us not forget we might get lucky and have a military leader appear through the gate."

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia - Selsmire]

After this exchange between CPU and Oracle, Karen spent the week in her travels with Lisalon either playing a number of games or working on political affairs though she was cut off guard by how, shortly after her first communication with Kei, Celina contacted her and told her she managed to bypass security without them even knowing three times now and escaped the Arcadian Panopticon outside her designated shore leave times to work at Celestia through means she refused to reveal, even though was it designed to be impossible though she teased that she was an expert thief and even reminded her that no one could keep her imprisoned longer than she wished but to a mixture of relief and weird unease, Celina has said she's keeping her promise to live out her sentence since she does eventually want the freedom to walk through the city without having to disguise herself. After Karen ended this communication with Celina, she secretly asked Rose to inspect the Panopticon herself but was frustrated with the report that she couldn't find out just how anyone was able to escape, though Rose returned some irritation in turn since she was already spread thin by maintaining her business, watching over the underground in case more gangs pop up, and having sent nearly half her team to investigate the black markets in Lastation and Arcadia.

During the journey, Noire gave Karen a plethora of information regarding the country of Parthenia which was primarily cultural in nature though she was unable to learn anything about the Knights directly since she was met with the expectation that she should know about anything she asked and had no means of working around it so both are in the dark in this regard, but she did learn from Tume that the children themselves were all orphaned in some way or another so the group were raised as a rather mix-mash rambunctious family, none not even having memory of any family outside their 'siblings' and their parent in Tume, learning that what the village chief had said to them was a lie, but learned it was a white lie of convenience since they prefer the children not knowing this.

When the week ended and Karen and Lisalon found themselves outside Selsmire's dusk black tinted stone walls, the former seeing that what passes as nature in the region was colored which seems like frail dust posing as soil showing that whatever the Parthenians have been doing has been destroying their land though when she considers they've apparently been living on this land longer than human civilization in her world even existed since human civilization on Earth only began forming roughly six thousand years prior while Lisalon has said they've been here anywhere between thirty to fifty thousand years. She wonders if this was inevitable but she feels surprised they lasted this long since Lisalon mentioned that they are a warrior culture and they only had support staff like blacksmiths and the like when they first arrived in Gamindustri, but after the uprising in Tari's era, they had the few native survivors of the nation as ancillaries teach them about food preparation before sending them off to other settlements in the world, since, according to what little history of their old world has survived to this day, they were simply an order of knights meant to protect those under their charge and fight off invaders with steel swords, bow and arrows, and what little they had in the way of magic and were protected by nothing more than flimsy robes and minimal armor.

That description of what the Parthenian Knights paled in comparison to what they are now: An extremely well trained order of fighters with powerful magic under their command but it unfortunately seems that because they don't have the means to perform science, they never had the means to advance their society and prevent problems like this from happening. Karen silently muses that there's probably no way such a deeply ingrained warrior culture can handle something like this so it would be preferable to seek out an outside party and have them create technology for you. This is something Karen feels she should bring up with this Grand Master of theirs and attempt to negotiate with. She feels like that if she applies some reverse psychology, she might be able to secure the NAP she desires but that depends heavily on how well she can work around the Grand Master since he has been alive for thousands of years.

Moments later, Lisalon beckons Karen to exit the cart and almost immediately after, the horse began to run back in the direction they came from

"That's one of the best things about the Aqua Burmese. Their sense of direction and memory are the best. She's on her way back to Sharre Village now. But it's time to enter the city. Let's go C-Karen." Lisalon felt awkward for the first time in a while since she has to avoid calling Karen by the title of CPU while in Selsmire since this is the main stomping grounds for the Knights and letting it slip only once would most likely cause both of them to be detained, likely indefinitely.

* * *

After Lisalon signaled to have the gate opened, the pair entered the city to see the main road filled with merchant tents and people browsing their wares though they cowered in mild terror as Lisalon walks with Karen in tow though many remarks of awe came from the people despite the fear in their expressions and postures but not long after the pair entered the main square as a young girl with sky blue hair and glazed eyes wearing what could only be called rags barely covering her chest and lower torso, but little else, walking around but moments after her presence was made clear, a man with white hair and black eyes wearing a black robe stomped forward with an angry glare toward the girl

"You worthless slave! I have told you repeatedly you are not to leave my sight or else you will be punished." The man quickly proceeded to slap the girl because of her 'disobedience' but he was mildly surprised that instead of the girl he intended, he was met with the sight of Karen taking the brunt of it and being forced to her back since there was a lot of force behind his hit and it left a deep red mark on her cheek.

"You dare interfere in my-!" Whatever the man was going to say, he was stopped in his tracks as Lisalon drove her fist into the man's stomach, making him crash to the ground.

"Valco, you have been warned about your hostility! If you remember, your violent attitude toward your slaves violates our laws on how you can treat them and you just burned your last chance." Lisalon was clearly ticked off based on her death glare voice as she propped the unconscious man onto her shoulder and crouched downward toward Karen "You okay?" Despite her asking this, Lisalon quickly moved her free hand as it began to glow silver and hovered it over her cheek as it began healing the injury.

"I'm okay...I've had worse. I've been in three situations where I've nearly died. A single slap is nothing." Karen genuinely felt conflicted on whether she would call this injury better or worse since it's not life-threatening but it feels like the time she got attacked by the Guardragon so strongly she got sent flying even with her armor on, but she looked toward the girl she saved from this situation "Are you okay?"

"Why did you protect this lowly slave? I'm unworthy of such protection."

"Don't speak down on yourself like this okay? There is not a single person in the world unworthy of being protected. Do you have a name?"

"A name?" The question had her look downward for a moment and shook her head, showing that she doesn't seem to possess one "I have always simply been called slave."

" _Erg, Caelus, are you awake?_ " After hearing that the girl looking at her is lacking a name, her record of horrible people names is coming back to her and she does not want to give this girl a bad name.

" _Are you certain you want me to come up with a name? She's looking to you for this._ " Caelus certainly had no hesitation as Karen could hear her silently laughing at her predicament.

" _Okay. Fine. Witch._ " Karen scowled inaudibly as she racked her brain desperately trying to break her bad streak of names in the past " _Okay, based on the names I've heard, these Knights seem to have similarities to our old Arthurian legends, so go with that theme Karen._ " Karen really took her time trying to come up with a good name based off Arthurian themes "Say, would the name...Elizalla Clarad work with you since you said you don't have a name?"

"Elizalla Clarad." The girl took a moment to think over the name and weakly nodded in acknowledgement "So this is to be my new name Master?"

"About that-" Karen was about to speak against the matter but was stopped by Lisalon as she walked forward and began to whisper in her ear

" _Just play along Karen. The girl has no idea how to live not being a slave. She was born a slave and has zero knowledge on the subject of free will. Honestly, considering that Valco is to be executed, his slaves are going to be either freed or moved to a more appropriate household, depending on their ages. He was so violent we Knights were forced to intervene in this matter a few weeks ago. But of course, as the injured party, you have first right to his slaves. If you play your cards right, you may be able to claim them all and bring them to your country where they can live as free men and women. Trust me when I say I utterly abhor the idea of slavery._ "

" _But I don't-_ "

" _Just play along alright?_ "

* * *

With a hidden groan from Karen, mostly from how she detests the idea of owning a slave but forces herself to accept it as cultural tolerance, at the planned action from Lisalon, the knight rose her arm to calm the panicked crowd, though the arrival of a couple dozen more knights from every direction only served to rattle the crowd even further

"I-Inquisitor Glerrok sir!" Lisalon quickly made a salute with her free arm as a knight with massive ivory black and silver armor similar to Evart's approached them though Karen felt a hint of confusion as to how Lisalon was able to distinguish anyone from the other since they always seem to be wearing their armor.

"What is the meaning of- Is that person over your shoulder that filthy bastard Valco?"

"I'm afraid so Inquisitor. He was about to beat this girl here to a pulp again but my companion here protected her at the cost of slight injury."

"Damn him. He's been warned." Glerrok simply groaned and sighed as he grabbed the unconscious Valco from Lisalon's arm and moves him to his own as he looks toward Karen "Young lass, as the injured party because of Valco's actions, his fate is in your hands. Do you wish to be his executioner?"

"I...I er. I really don't want to soak my hands with blood. Even if he does deserve it."

"Very well. Lisalon, this responsibility falls to you as her honor guard."

"I'm honored Inquisitor. I would never dream of giving commands to my superiors when I do not possess the rank, but in this situation, punishing this man requires superseding our chain of command because of his repeated violation of our laws. Bring this man to the holding chambers in the citadel."

* * *

After giving this request to the nearby knights, Lisalon urged Karen to follow her to the stone castle towering over the entire city in the direction of the mountainside, Elizalla following and pass through the exterior gates as they enter the main complex, wandering through the hallways as the sight of hundreds, heck possibly even thousands, of sets of armors are displayed though Karen was amazed at how not a single one of them had any noticeable similarities aside from height as the colors and design each differed from the last

"All of these armors were worn by knights from generations past. In our lives, we undergo degrees of competition amongst each other for the right to have our armor stored in Grand Master Selles' personal armory where he places the armor of Knights he truly honors when they die."

"That sounds similar to what one of my fellow CPUs does in her Basilicom. She keeps people she and her Oracle were very close to buried in a special mausoleum within the building, and Warlord Thraaklon was the last person, to my knowledge, to be buried there when he died. I never truly met the man, but I heard he carried a large amount of history and experiences."

"Aside from Grand Master Selles, none of our Knights have met him either. What little most of us have knowledge of is that, like I've said before, he's a major reason we still live to this day."

Lisalon continued to speak as she escorted her companions through the halls, passing by one of their training rooms, finding it utterly massive in its interior and housing nearly a thousand armored knights training amongst each other, but one single individual stands out like a sore thumb as he is the lone figure not suited in the armor commonplace among the Knights, sporting black hair going down to his ears but to her surprise, the lone individual appears to be about as old as the children back among the orphanage and in lieu of the armor, he is wearing a simple red shirt with white lines along the collar, top center, and the hem fighting a wooden dummy with a katana of the same material by himself

"Say, why is this that one boy training by himself?" Karen would've also asked why he is training at such a young age too but she knows that warrior cultures from her world like say Sparta would train their young from the age of seven and decided to keep silent about this factor.

"That is Medoc Shirahata. It's something of a shame that he's forbidden from receiving the Parthenian armor and the rights bestowed upon us Knights because of his 'tainted' bloodline since he's as dedicated as any of us even though he lacks our powers. Hell, he's forbidden from even marrying any of his fellow Knights since he's a 'halfbreed', being the son of a knight and a courtesan. They don't want that 'taint' infecting the rest of us."

"That's horrible. Such a dedicated fighter, even if he's this young, should be treated with some level of respect. Especially when he's pushing himself this much to be as strong as he can even though he is incapable of reaching the level of strength of his colleagues. I'm guessing that rank of Medoc is bad?"

"Bad is putting it mildly. The rank of Medoc is the worst punishment we can receive among us Parthenian Knights and it is all but irreversible. It's reserved for those who have dishonored the proud name of our order and they usually are treated as criminals. Normally they'd be exiled outright and banished from our lands, never to return, but there are some exceptions. Charis' there is among them since his father is a Strateon. It's allowed Charis to still serve but even rising to the rank of Herald is impossible for him. And that's the rank all knight trainees start at."

"I see." Karen morosely responded as she continued to bare witness to Charis' solo training but notices four individuals, three girls and a boy, approaching her from the hallway out of the corner of her eye, one having bright crimson hair going down to her shoulders and bright green eyes wearing a full uniform colored black and gold with a very elegant twin blade sword on her back, a girl with blonde twin tails going past her waist wearing a similar uniform colored yellow and black that shows a good amount of her midriff, but Karen was caught off-guard by the laughably large battleaxe, the axe itself being larger than her head and torso combined, the sole male in the group having dark blue hair and cyan eyes, sporting a gray and white colored bracer and gauntlet on his right side, matching his white and dark blue uniform, and is using a large bow as his weapon of choice, and the last among them is wearing an outfit similar to one worn by mikos with a navy blue and white color scheme and a V shaped pendant on her forehead wielding a naginata as her weapon of choice with the same colored hair as the male next to her.* However, the lack of the signature armors of the knights caught her a little off-guard, though she mused that perhaps their young age prevented them from achieving them at this time.

"Lisalon!" Although it was the girl with red hair who let this ecstatic shrill escape her, all four dashed toward her and locked her in a bear hug.

"Good to see you guys; especially you Lilica." Although Lisalon spoke fondly toward all four of the children, she ruffled the hair of the redhead who spoke next.

"Who's this person next to you Miss Lisalon? I don't recognize her."

* * *

After taking a single moment to inspect the surroundings to make sure no one is overhearing their conversation, Lisalon quickly spoke back up "If you've been keeping up with your studies, then you'll know the capabilities of Console Patron Units, whom this woman is. Karen, meet my prodigies: Lilica Teken, Lilon and Ginham Teivale and Astona Lalat." Lisalon gestured toward the girl with red hair first, the miko second, the archer third, and the blonde last.

Karen was rather absorbed into the friendly atmosphere the sextet had created and didn't pick up what Lisalon stated until her mind processed this turn of events and quickly went wide-eyed since Lisalon just casually revealed her status as a CPU to a number of Parthenian Knights.

"W-WHAT?! Lisalon, I thought you said we had to keep that secret!"

"Oh relax. These four have a different stance regarding the Console Patron Units. Most of us Parthenian Knights have some amount of fear toward people like you but there are some of us who genuinely rever your power. It's barbaric certainly, but the goddess of Tari was able to eradicate a country's near entire population and many of our ancestor knights with little effort. By itself, that kind of power is something to be admired. These four are rather fervent toward the legends."

Befitting the response given by Lisalon, the quartet indeed began to swarm her, asking her questions in a hushed tone to avoid anyone overhearing the subject but questions quickly shifted toward Elizalla since they all seemed to know her or at least her experiences with Valco since that man seemed to be an utter arch-enemy of the Knights based on the actions he took particularly when they all seemed glad that she has a new 'Master' even though they knew nothing about Karen period, aside from how she is a CPU, and it showed that Valco truly must have been a cruel man to the point where they'd trust an absolute stranger and a foreigner to be a slave owner.

After they managed to dismiss the quartet, Karen promising that she would answer their questions in a more private setting, away from the ever-present presence of the Knights, the trio quickly reached a large ornate door made of a metal resembling steel based on the color but embedded with gold and bronze red trims "We've arrived. For your own good, remain silent unless the Grand Master speaks to you in person and go along with what I say, okay?"

* * *

Karen simply nodded as Lisalon moved forward as she pushed it open, requiring all of her might because of the massive size of the doors and is met with the sight of a wide open meeting chamber, on the far side being a dark violet tinted cloth screen hung on the entire side, though the silhouette of a truly massive individual, likely three or even four times the size of Gaptahl is seen sitting in seiza style. When the trio get within five feet of the screen, Lisalon crouches down on one knee, her right arm on her legs as she bows, beckoning Karen and Elizalla to do the same

"Grand Master Selles, I am eternally honored to be in your presence."

An awkward silence came forth from the greeting Lisalon gave him but what broke the silence was the deep baritone voice the man possessed

"You have quite some guts showing your presence in front of me Medoc Lisalon."

"M-M...Medoc…?" Although Lisalon had her helmet covering her face, the fact she immediately stiffened herself at the mention of the word, alongside what Karen had been told of it, she knew that Selles was ticked about whatever Lisalon just did "W-What have I done to be disgraced to this extent Grand Master?!"

"Do you even have to ask Lisalon? You brought a Console Patron Unit of all things to my inner sanctum! Remember that they were the ones who cursed me and slaughtered so many of our fellow knights! CPU, I will not tolerate this course of action." After this fierce growl, Selles pushed aside the curtain, revealing his own unique armor being primarily layered, colored black as shadows and having patterns making Karen think of the mythological Oni alongside a massive brown cape at the back and at his side, an equally massive battleaxe is seen in a single hand and a heater shield in the other "Draw your weapon CPU and I'll see that your death is swift."

"But Grand Master! She's not-!" Although she was genuinely surprised at this development, Lisalon drew her staff since she can tell that Karen was genuine when it came to wanting to help Parthenia and she wasn't going to let that chance escape her grasp, even if it meant fighting her Grand Master.

"Silence!" In response to Lisalon's remark, he swiftly struck her with his shield, sending her flying against the wall, leaving Karen on her own as Elizalla quickly fled to a far corner to get away from the fighting, and although she's genuinely shivering in fear, she's refusing to summon her new weapon in face of Selles' hostility, particularly when it is inches away from her face "Why are you not bringing your weapon into battle?"

"I'm not stupid Selles. The very second I draw my weapon, I'd get myself killed, and if you're as chivalrous as Evart was, you wouldn't attack someone who is unarmed unless he or she provokes you. So I'm going to sit here thank you very much. Sometimes it is better to fold your cards when you know you're outmatched."

"You're choosing to remain unarmed in a den of thieves that would kill to have the opportunity to end your life? Either you are brave or incredibly stupid. Tell me. Fifty years ago, a mysterious armored seer told me that a CPU would be the key to saving us from an unknown catastrophe. Are you this CPU?"

"I wouldn't know. There are many catastrophes happening in this world of Gamindustri, present and future. But know this. I am not going to hold your people's hands and bail you out of these troubles. You will have to meet me halfway. I'll provide whatever assistance I can, but you must offer something in turn. Helping individuals is one thing, but providing care for an entire country is on a whole other level."

"Hmm. Let me make a counteroffer CPU."

"A counteroffer? Let's hear it."

"I refuse to enter into an alliance with CPUs until I can ascertain your motives and personality but I will entertain a limited pact of assistance between us. However, if you want to jump start an alliance between your nation and my country of Parthenia, you will want to find the CPU who cursed me with immortality and bring her to me. I can sense she has escaped from the pocket dimension our ancient mages created but I cannot tell where she is."

Karen felt her eyebrow rise up at this piece of news and let it sink in "You're awfully quick to pledge the idea of forming an alliance with a CPU Grand Master. I know the goddess of Tari was quick to turn on your knights when she killed her people. I don't want a clash of ideals forcing us into a status of master and vassal. I do want your people to help us in future trials, but I have no desire to have you surrender your sovereignty. I want to-"

Karen was forced to stop in her tracks as she witnessed a large number of bubbles condensing in the corner of her eye and from it, a surge of water magic burst forward, striking against Selles' shield making him flinch in shock and Karen in turn double took in surprise as the bubbles began to manifest into a young girl with gold hair going down to her neck, tanned ribbons neatly tied onto two of the thicker strands on her sides, forming three patterns of Xs but what caught her attention the most was the blue and gold bodysuit on her person which has a design very similar to the ones used by Rom and Ram, the wings on her back side resembling her own in HDD, overall she largely resembled Aqua Heart although she lacks the hagoromo and the wings being a smaller size compared to Karen's, and the special power symbol in her eyes which was a clear-cut sign that she was a CPU like her, Noire, and the others wielding a shiny silver and gold staff with three tiny crystal balls, one at the bottom and two at the top, and a large one above the two and a curved spike pattern, though the sight of the girl caused Selles to glare at Karen, who was feeling a death glare aimed toward her

"Is this your idea of a trap CPU?"

"N-No! I seriously don't know who this is!" To prevent a battle, Karen dashed toward the mysterious girl, urging Selles to stand down for the time being until she can sort things out, and gently gripped the mysterious girl's shoulders "I'm trying to handle a diplomatic meeting and you attack my client...who in the world are you anyway?!"

"I'm your little sister onee-sama: Aqua Sister."

Karen could only repeatedly blink as she struggled to comprehend what she is hearing from the girl even though she was able to quickly figure out that this girl was a CPU like she is based on her appearance "Little sister? Aqua Sister?" Karen had to push this out of her person as she quickly began to consult her 'spiritual advisor' for answers

" _Caelus, what is this?_ "

" _You are asking the wrong person here Karen. Remember that I know nothing of CPU Candidates. You're better off asking Kei._ "

" _Good idea._ " Karen lifted her arms from the girl's shoulders and moved one toward her ear to contact Kei " _Kei, I need to ask you something important. Are you busy right now?_ "

" _I'm just doing some paperwork to finalize the necessary funding for the Arcadian police force. Sango and Ryuka are being particularly generous to fund our forces and are even planning to provide a part of their own internal company security teams with help from Chian providing their arms and armor. Is there something amiss?_ "

" _Can you inspect my Sharicite and see if there's a secondary drawer of Share energy from it?_ "

" _A secondary drawer? I'm not following._ "

" _I'm talking about a CPU Candidate Kei. Does Arcadia have one?_ "

" _A CPU Candidate already? In a nation only two years old? Let me check._ " A few moments of silence passed, the girl blinking with a friendly smile, and is met with a response from Kei " _I have no idea how Arcadia achieved it, but there is indeed a CPU Candidate who was just born. Is she with you?_ "

" _I can only presume so. This CPU in front of me resembles me when I use my HDD a little. In addition to how she called herself Aqua Sister and called me onee-sama, a rather formal title for sister back among my people. Actually, now that I think about it Kei, I might have an idea on why she was born._ "

" _Would you mind disclosing this theory of yours?_ "

" _Considering that I'm in the land of the Parthenian Knights and how they somehow have the ability to negate our divine protection which prevents most people from harming us, perhaps the Sharicite sensed that I was about to be attacked by their Grand Master and created her as a means of protecting me?_ "

" _That is possible, anyway,_ _I'd say protecting you is worthy of having a name bestowed upon her human form Lady Aqua Heart. If I may offer my own opinion, I would recommend the name: Yukihana. In an ancient language after the first sealing of ASIC's Deity of Sin, the characters for Karen and Aqua are interpreted as Yuki and Hana. Combine that for Yukihana._ "

" _That's a good name, I like it. Thanks for the help Kei; I'll let you get back to your work._ " Karen ended the call with Kei and returned her attention toward the newfound CPU Candidate in front of her "Listen Yukihana, I get you were trying to help me, but this is a bit much. You put me in more danger than you did trying to prevent it from happening."

"I-I'm sorry onee-sama. I was just trying to save you from danger." Yukihana truly felt sorrowful regarding the situation based on how tears began to wellow from her eyes.

"I know okay. Don't cry. Please, just keep quiet and let me work through this negotiation." Karen cooed as she gently wiped the tears rolling down from her eyes, silently urging Yukihana to sit next to her, before shifting her gaze back toward Selles "This is just a misunderstanding Selles, let's return to the negotiations."

"Who is that girl CPU?"

"She is my country's brand new CPU Candidate. She was created through my country's Sharicite at the response of when you threatened me with your weapon. I can only presume it could bypass the natural protections we CPUs have since I've been in situations like this a few times now and this is the first time I've had a CPU Candidate show up."

"Interesting. Anyway, your remark about the CPU of Tari is slightly incorrect. While she did indeed kill many of my ancient Knights and many people we Parthenians swore to defend, it was not random or out of spite, not entirely anyway."

"I-I don't understand. The records I read said she went ballistic when your Knights were being praised more than her." The more Karen learned about these Parthenians, the more confused she was becoming since she is missing vital context in history between this faction and Tari. The only things she knows about this is that there was a two thousand year gap between Caelus' birth and Tari's fall and little else.

"That might have been a factor in her mind young goddess, but it is ultimately wrong nonetheless. I know this one truth since I was one of Parthenia's twelve elite knights at the time, but it was a truth we erased, at the time both to preserve both our honor and our lady's own in addition to her history. We wished to prevent this sort of incident from repeating itself by writing her as a heartless tyrant, when she was far from it since she was such a kind hearted woman, even if she was weak-willed, when she was tragically corrupted by dark energy by our own hands. It is a memory that was so horrific it has been permanently engraved in my mind. The CPU of Tari felt useless since she was unable to defend her lands without our might so she wanted us to find a source of power for her so she could rise and fight alongside us. We twelve knights were asked by her to seek a power source and return it to her. Had we exercised proper caution and studied the artifact we found in one of the dungeons more thoroughly, we might have been able to prevent the tragedy of mass genocide. We should've began to suspect something was wrong when four of our members suddenly went mad to the point where we had to kill them but we simply ignored it and brought it to the CPU. We simply thought of them as greedy. Moments later, we fell from eight to two because of her sudden malicious power taking control of her as they forced us to run while they tried to stall her for us to contact the rest of the knights, though she was able to maintain control for a brief moment with this warning ' _RUN! This power is overwhelming me! It's filling me with the desire to destroy everything. I can only hold myself back for a short time._ ' What followed was a four month conflict which led to the death of millions. Horrible."

"Wait, something still doesn't make sense. If you're actually civil toward CPUs like this, why did you knock Lisalon unconscious like that? Particularly when she's trying to encourage an alliance between our two factions."

"To save face. My knights largely think of the Console Patron Units as evil, as we desired. Both our ancient history in this world of Gamindustri and the natural history of this world has been altered through the shaman's machinations and it's not a truth I want them knowing since it goes against everything we stand for. We're a militant force dedicated on defending the helpless from the corrupted leaders who abuse their station to torture those under their heel. So that is the true story of Tari. It was not destroyed through the malice of her CPU, well not entirely anyway, no, it was destroyed because of the carelessness of her own knights and the very land itself lies abandoned far beyond Nightmare Valley behind this temple which acts as a barrier from this land and Tari."

"And an immortal leader lording over the personal cadre of knights he warped as a dictator is incapable of said corruption? That's rather high and mighty of you."

This response quickly had Selles confront Karen, his presence only inches away from her face and a truly vicious aura emanating from his stance, though to Karen's surprise she didn't even blink a single eyelash at this display of violence from the massive knight towering over her, though the fact she feels utterly detached in term of emotion can only suggest that her previous forays with near death has crippled her fight or flight defensive mechanism.

"You dare insult me in this manner?"

"It's only insulting when it's true Selles."

"I don't know whether to call you brave or stupid. Intentionally provoking an individual who is massive, heavily armed, and having the power to kill you with minimal effort."

"I'm leaning toward stupid believe it or not. I've been at death's door four times now and I feel like that has damaged my sense of logic so I'm making stupid decisions." Despite this choice of words, Karen carried both a smug grin and tone of voice as she spoke to Selles.

"I'd say your sense of humor is what's damaged CPU. Heh. I find myself wanting to ally with you to prevent another genocide of a goddess' country. Send a small honor guard to monitor your activity to prevent a massacre from breaking out. Hell, even prevent you from gaining any sort of dark power that corrupts you to the core or find a way to change your sense of what is funny to something more fitting." Showing how his venom in his aura has faded, Selles stepped back a few feet and sat himself back in seiza style in front of the pair.

"If you think that's necessary to guide this broken goddess Grand Master Selles, I will abide by your decision." Karen simply laughed as she made her voice clear.

"I worry for the sake of your people CPU. Perhaps it is for the best that we come out of hiding, let the world know the might of the Parthenian Knights once again. Normally I would send out Obsidian squad for this mission, but I have half of them sent to patrol the border, three of them are leading another scouting mission beyond Nightmare Valley, and the other three are scattered throughout this country. So I leave the choice of who to send in this special mission to you."

"I must give you my thanks Grand Master Selles. Getting the honor of getting to choose my honor guard among a foreign country's warriors is one must take seriously, but I have a few candidates already."

"Name them."

"I'd like to vouch for Lisalon, Lilica Teken, Lilon Teivale, Ginham Teivale, Astona Lalat, Charis Shirahata, and while they're not Knights per say, I'd like to bring a number of others with me back to my country."

"While I can understand you wanting to recruit Lilica, Lilon, Ginham, and Astona since they are fine knights-in-training, but why would you want to recruit two lowly Medocs? And who else is it that you want to bring with you?"

"When I look at people, I do not judge them by their ranks. I judge their skills and character. Where you see Lisalon and Charis as criminals or rejects, I see them as warriors who are so loyal to their country that they are even willing to stand against their leader to protect it and fighters having the drive to push them to the utmost to prove himself even though he lacks both the powers and the rights of his comrades. That kind of resolve is extremely admirable. As to the others I want to bring with me, it's the children from Anamari Orphanage. They're living a pretty bad life out there and I want to change that."

"Ah, that family. Descendents of Medoc Wulfric Anamari, indirectly or not. If you want to take them, go ahead. I had already banished them."

"You have no qualms in me taking your own citizens Selles?"

"They're descended and related to a Medoc. By our laws, they are far from citizens and with the condition of our lands, they are a waste of our ever limited resources. Take them as good-will gifts from Parthenia."

"That's...I accept your generous offer. I'll contact one of my allies and have her speak with you to formally arrange all of the terms in our trade agreement. I may be Arcadia's ruler, but I'm far from skilled in trade deals."

"I expect this person promptly CPU. I understand travel across this vast continent is difficult so I'll allow a month's delay."

"Thank you Grand Master Selles. I'll begin work on getting this set up straightaway and have my associate meet you as soon as possible, and as I requested, I'll go find the people I asked for and have them come with me back to Arcadia." To start things off, Karen pulled herself up and walked toward the still unconscious Lisalon, noticing that she is beginning to reawaken from the injury she was dealt "You okay Lisalon?"

* * *

Hearing Karen speak had Lisalon give a weak groan in response as she pushed herself up, supporting herself with her staff

"Ugh, kinda. You try getting smacked in the face with a massive shield, getting sent flying into a wall in the process, and try to shrug it off."

"Trust me Lisalon, I _know_ that experience. Only about a week and a half ago, I got hit by a _HAMMER_ that size which sent me crashing against several trees. Come on, Grand Master Selles has given you the mission of coming to my country to monitor my activities."

"Indeed Medoc Lisalon. Because of this mission, I revoke that drop of rank and grant you the rank of Quisar. Go find Medoc Shirahata and get him out of this place. In addition to Herald Teken, Teivale, and Lalat."

"Y-Yes Grand Master." Lisalon weakly mumbled as she limped out of the room, Karen, Yukihana, and Elizalla following, the latter following after Karen beckoned her to come to her side.

Moments after the quartet left the room, leaving Selles to ponder his thoughts when a newcomer suddenly materializes, wearing a stone gray set of armor, the same kind worn by Uzume during the Arcadia gang war.

"Long time no see Selles. I trust your meeting with CPU Aqua Heart went through well?"

"You dare show yourself before me witch?!" If Selles had any serenity, it vanished since, while he genuinely wished to display pure unbridled rage, it was far too intermixed with a level of fear since the woman terrified him when she first met him.

"How rude Selles. I am not a witch in any way." Whether Uzume felt insulted or not, she hid it behind a rather cold manipulative tone. While she usually preferred keeping this secret side of hers hidden, she has little qualm letting it freed when her usual diplomatic capabilities fail.

"What the hell do you want now? I'm working with the CPU like you wanted, so leave my people alone. Trust me, I'm not stupid enough to believe the poison in our lands was natural. I know you had a hand in it all."

"Glad to know you're not completely stupid and helpless Selles. If your knights are as competent as you are, Arcadia and the rest of Gamindustri will be able to see the light of day. Of course, the fact that Strateon Evart defied your orders and attempted to kill CPU Aqua Heart and her royal guard worries me."

"Evart defied us? How dare he! Bring him to me and I will see that he is punished for his actions."

"Evart is already dead Selles. Dead by Aqua Heart's hand. Of course, I'm generous enough to return his body here regardless." Uzume snapped her fingers as the fully armored figure lands in front of them both. With a moment's pause as Selles inspected the body, Uzume continued to speak "Now that I've given my peace offering, it's time for the negotiations to begin. I'm going to be thorough in ensuring Arcadia benefits heavily while also ensuring the survival of your Parthenian Knights."

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [16:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia: Selsmire]

With her business now concluded, Karen, Yukihana (who was quickly told to disengage HDD before leaving Selles' chamber, showing her azure blue hair and eyes in this human form and is sporting a sailor's uniform colored dark blue with a tan colored color and skirt and a large red ribbon at the bottom end of the collar), Lisalon, and Elizalla gathered the members of their specially picked group: Charis Shirahata, Lilica Teken, Astona Lalat, Lilon, and Ginham Teivale and proceeded to leave the temple that served as the primary HQ for the Knights. Along the way, because of their new mission, Lisalon used her telepathy magic to contact Inqusitior Glerrok and pass the responsibility of executing Valco to him in addition to the matter of relocating his slaves to owners who are not brutal to them, though out of his fifteen slaves, six are being freed because they are of adult age and the other nine would be moved to other slave owners, the Knights intending to spend a great deal of effort ensuring they would be put in good households that can sustain them since Karen has said she does not wish to become a slave owner, already feeling uneasy owning one as it is.

"So you hand picked the five of us to help serve your duties as Quisar Lisalon?"

"That I have Lilica. None of you are going to be able to continue your training as a Knight, but you all have a higher calling now. Even you Medoc Charis Shirahata."

"Can we please save the talking for a different time? I want to get to our destination as soon as possible." Charis spoke very bluntly as he walked toward the outer gates to exit the city ahead of the others.

"While I'm not as blunt as that Medoc, he does have a bit of a point there. How long a journey are we going to have to reach our destination?" Astona was far from amused at his sudden departure from the group but did share in his sentiment.

"That's the thing, I don't really know how far we'll have to go. I was transported to the edge of your territory by the shaman who was descended from Thraaklon's old ally. I have a means of contacting her, but we have to go to Sharre Village first to get my friend and the rest of our group before we can leave. Of course, we're looking at a week's journey if we can find an Aqua Burmese here. I dread to imagine how long we have to go if we're to walk."

"If you don't mind, I have a friend who can give us a ride. But I don't want to call him while we're in the city, it'll cause a panic. Let's exit the city and we'll be able to reach Sharre in a few hours." Lilica smiled as she followed after Charis, soon to be followed by the rest of the group as they wander through the city streets, quickly finding themselves outside the walls, Lilica quickly making distance from everyone as she pulls a hand-crafted wood ocarina, using only four of the twelve holes on it to play a rather nice sounding melody and only a few minutes later, a large dragon with white colored scales, webbed feet and sporting a special harness connected to a saddle on its back, is quickly seen flying from the direction of the mountains and lands in front of them all, terrifying Karen, Yukihana, and Elizalla in the process since they have no idea of the dragon's personality though Lilica seemed rather friendly since she quickly leapt to hug the creature's head "Good to see you Sorventh!" A thorough nuzzling immediately followed this energetic greeting, though she stopped just as quickly as she gently grabbed a large horn on its head "I need to ask you for a favor my friend. We need transportation to Sharre Village, can you please bring all of us there?" A moment's silence passed after this earnest plea as the horn glowed a bright green, mixed in with a little red, and Lilica turned around with an expression of both joy and unease "He's willing to bring us to Sharre, but he knows I'm leaving and he's not exactly pleased about it. Parthenian Dragon Riders tend to stick together for life." After saying this to the group, she shifted her gaze back toward her dragon partner, crouching for a moment before jumping several feet in the air and landing perfectly on the saddle on his back, soon followed by Lisalon, Astona, Ginham, and Lilon; the mere act utterly startling Karen and Yukihana since they never expected the Parthenian Knights to be capable of this level of physical exertion. Of course, when the dragon lowered its head, Karen, Yukihana, Charis, and Elizalla slowly climbed upward and situated themselves next to the other knights.

"Better hold on tight everyone, We're gonna be going at supersonic speed." After Lilica made this warning clear and ensured everyone is in stable positions, Sorventh quickly flapped his wings to soar into the air and once he was airborne, his wings folded inward to slightly cover his passengers and flew at supersonic speed like Lilica said though the sensation instantly made Karen, Yukihana, Elizalla, and Charis nauseous, the latter two being the worst off since they're just regular human beings with no benefit of the Knights' magic genetic enhancements or the power of the CPUs, who felt forced to activate their HDDs that moment to simply survive.

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [17:00] May 7th 22XX

Location: [Parthenia: Selsmire]

After a half hour's flight, the group arrive outside the village and disembark from Sorventh's saddle, the knights feeling perfectly fine, if slightly disoriented from the extremely fast speed, Karen and Yukihana nearly fell into unconsciousness when their feet touched the ground, their HDD deactivating as the need for it was long gone, but Charis began to heavily vomit on the ground when he fell off and hit the ground, and because of Elizalla's young age in addition to her lack of protective abilities, the trauma of the flight completely knocked all consciousness out of her as she fell to the ground and the sight made Karen rush to her side and check her pulse, finding it incredibly weak.

"Lilon, Lisalon, I need you two to help me use healing magic on her." The trio quickly gathered together and used their magic to revitalize Elizalla's condition; the combined magic taking effect quickly as Elizalla repeatedly coughed, her sight quickly shifting toward Karen.

"You saved this lowly slave again Master. I'm unworthy of this sort of healing from you all."

Karen was about to speak again about how she shouldn't speak like this but Astona put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head before walking toward Elizalla and crouching down to her level

"Look Elizalla, this is something a proper slave owner _should_ do. You spent your life owned by a cruel man so you don't know that these sorts of acts are par for the course for owners who actually care for their slaves. Normally a slave owner should be able to tend to her slaves without help from others, though there's no shame in asking for help naturally, and their core responsibility should be ensuring their charges grow into proper adults. So look, you were feeling very weak because of this little adventure here so your owner saw the need to heal you. Just accept this as one of her responsibilities."

"You surprise me Astona. I've never heard you give good advice before. It's always been pretty crappy before now." Ginham laughed at how Astona was doing what she could to comfort Elizalla but he nervously chuckled and fought the urge to gasp when he saw Astona steady her grip on her hammer.

"Ginham. I'm giving you a ten second head start before I hunt you down like a good for nothing beast. Start running." Astona made it clear that she was clearly infuriated by Ginham's remark over her kindness and he did not hesitate to start running, quickly followed by Astona with her hammer over her head in a blind rage, though Lilica ignored the proceedings as she patted Sorventh's head rather gently, with him flying off moments after she removed her hand.

"Oh blessed freaking creators. Even if they are children, this is inappropriate considering the mission we're on. At least some of you have decency." Lisalon sighed with a great deal of disbelief, her gaze first shifting toward Lilica and Lilon before looking toward Karen "Okay CPU, where's your friend?"

* * *

The sight of the pair arguing in this way made Karen smile as she subconsciously recalled an old memory of the Ragnarok tournament in Alfheim Online when Katsuo and Kana had that silly fight, though at the same time she knew the implications were graver this time around since Alfheim was a game while this is reality, but she knew she had to focus on the task at hand "Let me see." Karen pressed a few buttons on her gauntlet to activate the communication system to contact Noire " _Noire, I'm back in Sharre Village. Where are you at?_ "

" _Making dinner for the kids. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but I'm surprisingly good with these foreign Parthenian palates. I've been a big help to Tume so she's be able to get plenty of sleep this week. I even tried using a little bit of my magic to try getting more information on Mami's condition but came up with nothing. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been able to get that much intel on the Knights during your trek to the capital._ "

" _Don't worry about it. Anyway, tell the kids to start packing their stuff. I talked with the Parthenian leader and he pretty much said he wants everyone directly associated with the Anamaris gone. He's more reasonable than I originally thought, but he is not someone I want to cross in any way. I imagine that even Filia or Wrex would be afraid to act rebellious in his presence. I fortunately was able to agree to a limited peace and trade treaty but any hope of an official alliance is being blocked. Noire, from what I was told, we need to inform Neptune, Blanc, and Vert that the ancient CPU of Tari is alive and free. In order to gain their full support, we need to capture this woman and bring her to them._ "

" _I don't know Karen, I don't think crossing one of the first known CPUs is a good idea. I'd rather put my stock in her than these mysterious Parthenians despite their power. But I'll hold a council with the others and get their opinions._ "

" _Noire, trust me, you're going to want to help me. If I can secure an alliance with the Parthenians, I'll make sure Parthenian boots find themselves in your nations to maintain a defensive wall between your civilians and the monsters. I won't keep them exclusive to my nation._ "

" _Karen, if the situation was different, I'd call this a horrible deal. Having foreign fighters explicitly loyal to a different nation would make their rulers suspect you're planting agents for assassination. But I know you're not the sort. But at the same time, it's a pretty good idea, having skilled fighters around to help train our future soldiers. If we're going to leave, I want you guys to have a good meal before we leave._ "

" _Good idea._ "

* * *

After quickly breaking up the conflict between Ginham and Astona, the group walked to Anamari Orphanage, entering the premises and is met with the surprise of quiet ambience differing from Karen's last visit, hinting that Noire has really taken charge with things, quickly finding everyone in the dining room eating what resembled an exotic form of fish and found Noire wearing a pink chef's apron over her normal attire, though the arrival of the knights caused a mild panic among the children though it was far from chaotic since they were enamored with their presence, though Lilica, Ginham, and Astona were quick to start conversations to soothe their spirits though Lisalon (who used illusion magic to hide her insectoid face to avoid outright terrifying them), Lilon, and Charis kept to themselves as they ate, though Noire pulled Karen aside to the kitchen where Tume stood waiting, a sad frown on her face

"Okay Karen, there's something a little major I learned during your absence. Apparently Tume's grandfather's brother used to be one of these knights but got exiled for some crime. Furthermore, I did a little walking around town during this week and overheard people talking rather poorly of Tume, though they did keep it shadowy. They hide it well, but they really don't like her."

"Indeed. My family is rather disliked since the legacy of Medoc Wulfric Anamari was created and widespread. Putting it very simply: Medocs are not liked, even by civilians. But if there's anything good about being a knight, it teaches us to be resilient. Even if we're despised, we'll find some way to survive."

"Karen, look, if you're going to give these kids a more prosperous life in Arcadia, let Tume come with you."

"And yes, I am aware of your status, Lady Aqua Heart; Lady Black Heart told me enough two nights ago. About how you're both not from this country and are these beings called Console Patron Units, whatever that means."

"They're basically something like kings or queens Tume. They receive power from the faith of their citizens in exchange for protection. It's a lot more complicated but this is the basic description of what we are. And if you genuinely don't mind, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Besides, you know these kids best and I don't want to split you all up."

"Thank you. Would you mind if we departed tomorrow? I want to give everyone one last day in this place."

"That's just fine Tume. I need to set things up for this to happen anyway. Bae'lin to teleport us all back to Arcadia; Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to rearrange their abode for all of these kids. I'll spend my time until morning working everything out. But Tume, could I ask you for a favor?"

"What do you need of me Lady Aqua Heart?"

"It's regarding the young girl that came with me. Elizalla. She uh, she's a slave that I apparently own now-" Karen tried to speak but quickly found herself interrupted by Noire who utterly panicked at the mention of slave.

"WHAT?! Isn't slavery utterly immoral?!"

"Noire, please let me finish. Look, Elizalla is a slave I own, but her previous owner treated her so poorly she has next to no hint of free will. Look Tume, I want you to take her in and try giving her a proper life alongside the other kids. I'm a goddess and I can't exactly commit all that much time trying to raise a kid her age. I have to try with Yukihana, but she's Arcadia's CPU Candidate after all; Elizalla needs a chance to live life normally and I want you to do that Tume."

"Hmm...it's going to be challenging trying to rehabilitate an abused slave, but I'll do what I can to help her."

"Thank you."

With her determination crystallized, Karen kept to her word and spent all of her free time in this evening and night talking with Ophelia, Izumi, and Resta to arrange everything in their abode for the arrival of the children here.

* * *

Arc 2:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [14:00] April 30th 22XX

Location: [Lastation - Midgard Exterior]

Uzume wasted little time and effort after her transmission with Tybalt when she warped to the easternmost city in Lastation's territory: Midgard, knowing that Aufisa would likely be in her abode a little ways outside the city limits, the 'house' being a miniature white walled mansion with metallic gray tiling for the rooftoops, built on-top a steel foundation surrounded by nature both outside and inside the territory, though the fact it's connected by a paved road leading between Midgard and Lastation City shows its close proximity to the non-magical travel routes. Within the walls, the residential building has a japanese aesthetic in the design's seven floors, though only two are visible since the other five are underground.

Even though Uzume could've warped directly within the building, she chose to warp outside and walk up the stone gray steps as a display of modesty and turned to the dark chocolate brown doors and knocked on it with the back of her hand, quickly met with one of Uzume's attendants, who all wear the same sort of double layered robes colored white with blue trims, coupled with the special facemasks that covers all of their faces aside from their eyes and parts of their hair which flows out from segments of the mask.

"Ah, it's nice to see you again Lady Tennouboshi. To what do we owe this honor?"

"Nice to see you too Ruby. And considering that Aufisa lives here and this place is fairly remote, it's obvious why I'm here. Mind telling me where she is?" Even though her appearance was largely hidden, Uzume recognized her curly pink hair and yellow eyes, alongside her young cutesy voice since she's one of the younger attendants employed by Aufisa.

"She's on the veranda working on a new dungeon map for Four Goddesses Online 2. She's been fine-tuning it over the last two days, amplifying the little details. But I doubt she'd mind you visiting. Come on in." Ruby was her rather usual energetic self when speaking to Uzume, which gave her some relief since she hasn't been able to act like her usual self in quite some time.

Walking through the small garden like atmosphere, she noticed a new statue of Aqua Heart neighboring the waterside with an extreme level of quality to it, making it incredibly life-like to the point where it looked like it was the real thing, though for whatever reason, it empathized her chest underneath the robe she uses as clothing in that form and made it larger than it normally should be

" _What the hell?!_ " Uzume was glad she was wearing her helmet since she is blushing rather heavily and even though she knew she had to, she couldn't help but stare at the statue "S-Say, when did Aufisa add this statue here?"

"Just about an hour ago actually. Some man in a masked cloak gave us this as a gift for Lady Aufisa. He wanted to give her some inspiration for character designs if the need arose, at least, that's what he said."

" _You goddess damn son of a bitch! You just **KNEW** I was going to visit Aufisa and deliberately planted this statue here just to embarrass the hell out of me! Tybalt, when I actually get the chance, I am going to **MURDER YOU**!_ " Uzume snarled very angrily when she connected the dots and realized Tybalt did this solely to taunt her even further "Well, good for Aufisa I guess. Though I don't think she'd be able to get away with designing characters like that outside freaking eroge games or something." Despite her anger, Uzume had difficulty pulling herself away as her heart was starting to feel aflutter and her mind racing elsewhere.

* * *

After doing her best to ignore the statue, she walked through the covered hallway leading to the verdana, quickly witnessing the red haired, bluish green eyed nekomimi girl working a personalized laptop rather fervently, wearing three layers of clothes, the bottom being a very light black t-shirt with a number of red and pink striped hearts throughout, the second layer being a pink overshirt, and a large jacket colored black on the outside, with a white color on the hem, and layered violet on the inside, with a layered frilled skirt and stocking the same color as her jacket though Uzume quickly noticed the headphones covering where human ears would be, Uzume just barely hearing some of 5pb.'s music from them and the thin pink tail at her backside, with a very small amount of white at the tip. Aside from the cat ears on the top of her head, Aufisa would be utterly indistinguishable from the average human being.

"Hm, you again. I see you have returned Uzume Tennouboshi. Tell me, how is the armor faring you? It's one of my best designs." Aufisa spoke with an utter lack of emotion befitting her character of being utterly stoic.

"It's worked wonderfully Aufisa. It's not really meant for combat, I won't lie, but I did want it for ceremonial sorts of purposes. A shadowy enigma working in the background, her identity hidden from all. That's what I wanted."

"So what do you want? I doubt you'd come all this way for a casual visit."

"Quick to the point as ever I see Aufisa. Yeah, I did come with a goal in mind. I want to ask, how is your job faring; mostly: what are your thoughts on it?"

"It's a job. I get paid to draw all day and night. Aside from the idea of money giving me an odd taste since my people don't use this sort of currency, it's going marvelously. That distaste mostly comes from how I feel like art shouldn't be ransomed behind the curse of money. It should be shared with everyone without having to fork over money. But there's no way you came all this way just to ask how my job is treating me. Get to the point already."

"Ugh, brutal. Okay look, I came on behalf of the goddess of Arcadia: Aqua Heart with a proposition. She's trying to assemble a proper army to counter the fact monsters are evolving. Unfortunately, while she has secured a number of officers to lead the frontline, her back-rank support is weak to non-existent right now. The idea of research & development needs a major boost to support the army with weapons, armor, and vehicles. While Aqua Heart does have engineers who can assemble these things, they lack that certain who can create schematics for these things. You're one of the best artists in the world Aufisa. I believe you're the best candidate for this."

Aufisa kept silent as she pondered the request while also focusing on her current art project for 4GO2 for several minutes before shifting her gaze away from her laptop

"Not interested."

"Huh why? I thought art was your passion and challenges drive you?"

"Four Goddesses Online 2 is enough challenge for me thank you very much. This is one that changes frequently but it keeps to a theme. I very much prefer this sort of consistent challenge compared to a flimsy weapon design challenge."

"You call it flimsy when I haven't shown you examples of what I'm asking for Aufisa?"

"Show me what you're working with then."

"Gladly." Uzume smirked as she pulled two holo viewers out of her inventory and showed her the schematics for the Monolith and the Plasmyr hover tank designs provided by Tybalt "Although the names are likely to change when they become produced by Arcadia, this behemoth here is the M192A6 Monolith which is meant to operate as a mobile command center while this smaller one is the P55M8 Plasmyr. It's main expertise is hit and run guerilla tactics since, ideally, each one would operate on a miniature nuclear powered generator giving it a speed of nearly fifty to a hundred miles every ten minutes and this behemoth in the Monolith would have a larger one at the heart of the beast."

Aufisa diligently stared at the rotating images on the two holo viewers before looking back up toward Uzume

"Astounding. This is the pinnacle of artistic creations. I think it even surpasses my capabilities. If these are the designs you are using as a base for military development, I may have to take your proposal seriously. But know that I am not going to stop my work with 4GO2 even if I accept your offer."

"That's fair. I wouldn't expect the decision of leaving the life of comfort to one of uncertainty to be made on a whim."

"Besides, to even create drawings like this, I'd need access to Cloud Splice and this copy I have access to is exclusive to this game, I'm not allowed to make anything not related to the game with this one. I'll consider your offer and contact you later."

"Oh don't worry. I plan on talking with your bosses soon about it. I'm very good with diplomacy. And you have my thanks for at least considering my offer Aufisa."

"You do that. If your business is concluded, Ruby will see you out."

In face of Aufisa's dismissal of her, she pressed a button on her chestplate which dispensed a small phone that goes around a person's ear and gives it to Ruby "Fine, fine. But contacting me is challenging so I'll give you one of my special communicators. Use it to keep in touch with me."

"Got it."

Following Ruby as she led her outside the building and with her plan at least close to success since she's instilled a sense of compulsion for Aufisa to take up the job for Arcadia's military since she appealed to her strong favoritism for art. With this step done, she decided to visit one of Gamindustri's parallel dimensions code named Zeta since she has to do her part to recruit more generals, though she knew trying to recruit Segamin and her four SeHa Girl commanders would be difficult but was unafraid of the challenge, particularly when she is already acquainted with the five of them.

"Alright Segamin, we both owe each other favors, and I imagine we're both eager to cash them in." With a proud smirk, she closed her eyes and looked upward to concentrate and felt her presence within the physical realm fading as she is using her connection to the void between worlds to allow her to warp through dimensions, making herself fade from the Hyper dimension to the Zeta dimension.

* * *

Arc 3:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [6:00] May 1st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Central Hospital]

With the Arcadian gang wars finally over, Karen's friends were able to lay down their weapons since the need for fighting was unnecessary and they were able to live normal lives doing what they wished. Katsuo would've spent this morning sleeping, but he felt his synthetic organs and limbs suffering from a lack of optimal synchronization yet again, learning from Miyo early on that he requires regular maintenance from a specialist at the hospital two or three times a week.

When he arrived at the hospital, he was asked to walk to the room where his specialist will meet him: 2N-186, and along the way he happened to notice someone who he thought was in Planeptune meeting some of her friends exit one of the nearby rooms: Yuuki Konno.

"Yuuki, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Planeptune visiting some friends." Considering that Katsuo has never liked it when people lie to him unless they have a very good reason, the fact Yuuki is here and not Planeptune is filling him with a degree of rage toward Mamoru since he was the one who said this in the first place.

"Eh? Katsuo, why are you here and- What happened to you?!" Yuuki was utterly spooked by Katsuo suddenly calling her out but noticed the metallic eyepiece covering the right side of his face and the metallic coverings from the damage of the mech attack over a week prior and was understandably freaked out by it.

"It's natural I'd look disfigured like this when you get blasted with an anti-personnel burst round from a mech out to kill me. You turn into a half-machine freak like I am now. Beats being dead I guess."

"Katsuo." Yuuki looked utterly downcast as she approached him and gently stroked the left side of his face "This must have been a miserable experience for you."

"That's putting it mildly. I'm more machine than human at this point since my organs are synthetic and half my body is mechanical."

"It doesn't matter if your body is mechanical, your heart and soul is still human isn't it? The fact you can still feel emotion like sorrow is proof enough."

"I suppose." Katsuo stopped here as his right eye begins to whirr rapidly and begins giving him information because of the new upgrades Miyo installed over the last couple of days, a medical scanner being one of them "So you're hiding the fact you have HIV from us Yuuki?"

"H-How do you know that?! Did Mamoru or Miyo tell you?!"

"Neither. Not directly anyway. Miyo installed some new tech and it can tell if people have diseases. So those two know and you had them keep it from us."

"Look Katsuo, it's not that I didn't want to tell you guys! If I did, you'd all spend your time worrying about me and less time enjoying our lives and living them to the fullest. You know what, no more lies." Yuuki sighed as she moves one hand to her hair and another to her eyes, and pulls them off, revealing her barely kept straight styled brown hair going only to her ears and bluish black eyes "Yeah, my purple hair and red eyes? A well-done wig and colored contacts I asked my doctors for back in the hospital I was in back on Earth. If you're brave enough to walk around with such mechanical enhancements and not care, I may as well show my own real appearance."

"Yeah, doesn't exactly faze me much Yuuki. Being subjected to near death and being reconstructed as a cyborg does wonders on dulling your psychological profile." Katsuo was interrupted by his gauntlet arm ringing out showing that someone is trying to contact him "Yeah?"

" **Katsuo, it's Miyo. Report to the my lab underneath the Basilicom immediately. I can tell Yuuki is with you so bring her too.** "

"Got it." After responding to this, Katsuo returned his attention to Yuuki "You heard her. Let's go Yuuki."

"Sure. But let me get clearance from my doctor first."

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [7:30] May 1st 22XX

Location: [Arcadia - Miyo's Lab]

After the pair arrived in Miyo's lab like requested, they would find eighteen other people, all survivors of the gang war who fought alongside them to secure peace for the nation, standing around in the admittedly large room which lies underneath the Basilicom.

"Perfect. Everyone I called for is here. Now, before I start, I must make a single point clear. If any of you are not willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice for this country, you have one minute to leave. But for those of you who decide to leave, you must not tell a single living soul I told you to come here." Miyo did not waste any time making this remark vocal to the people she gathered, and despite them knowing the ultimate sacrifice is death, only two of the people left leaving eighteen of them in the lab alongside Miyo, cementing their determination in doing whatever it took to keep Arcadia safe, which actually made her give a sad frown as she looked over everyone "I actually expected everyone to leave when I made that point clear. It's rare to find people willing to die for their country. You guys are either the bravest souls in this entire world or the most foolish. You made your choice."

Miyo nervously paced about the room as she walked to a wall panel and pressed a few buttons on it which both sealed the door, this alone beginning to introduce some unease from the people she had called here and had several rows of armor emerge from within the wall, all having the same design and red, gray, black, and cyan colors throughout the frame though they all seem incapable of being compatible with human anatomy, especially the blue eye sockets which hardly seem compatible with human eyesight, let alone even attempting to get within the armor to begin with. (If you guys are wondering what kind of design for this armor I am using this time, it is created by another awesome DeviantArt artist called mestophales that he labeled as Power Armor for M4 - WIP2. If you want to see what it looks like in person, check the guy out alongside his other creations on the site.) "I'd like you to bare witness to the Altherian Autonomous War Droid created by my mentor many years ago. They were designed to be the ultimate fighting machines, but they possess several flaws. One, they are not truly autonomous despite the name since they have rather horrible software underneath their armor. Two, I have witnessed their fighting prowess in the past and while they are powerful, they cannot match a human's full capability on its own. Lastly, they are far too frail despite their powerful defenses. I've fixed the third problem with my own technology to give them a perfect self-repair system that prevents them from being destroyed in any way, but the first and second problem is one I have not been able to achieve conventionally, but I have discovered a way to make them the ultimate warriors like my mentor dreamed of. It is why I called you twenty, or rather eighteen of you. Before we do this, I need you all to give me some of your blood. I'm going to store it in a special vault for later."

Although there was confusion to her words, all of them obliged in letting Miyo draw vials of their blood as she stored them in a small hidden vault like she said and with it done, she returned her attention to the people in the room

"Now is the time for judgement. Come with me to the side room."

Miyo accepted no complaints as she used the controls on a pulley to move the armors with her to the side room she walked to, it being about as large as Karen's office on the higher floors of the building and after seeing everyone enter, she proceeded to seal the door yet again to the confusion and worry of the others, particularly when Miyo put on a gas mask "This room has a completely sealed ventilation system and I've loaded it with a combination of sleeping gas and a weak electronic magnetic pulse. I apologize for all of this secrecy, but here and now...you've given me the authority to destroy your frail human forms and have your souls transferred to this indomitable shells designed for ever-lasting evolution. When next you wake, you will no longer be the frail humans you are now, but the ultimate warriors." Wasting no time, Miyo immediately unleashed the trap she described on everyone in the room.

"H-Hold on! We didn't sign up for this!"

"I gave you a chance to leave. You didn't. You followed me here. Your lives were forfeit the second you did it." This is the last thing any of them heard before they fell unconscious from the gases in the room and Miyo was about to begin the procedure of transplanting their brains to the Altherian armor but was interrupted by her gauntlet's comm system going off, Miyo quickly seeing it's Karen calling her

"Miyo, could I ask you for a-"

Because of the procedure going on and the urgency of doing this, she had to end the call fast "K-Karen, this is not a good time okay!"

"What's wrong Miyo? I've rarely heard you this flustered."

"I'm working on a new project that desperately needs my foresight in all stages of the development. What do you need?" While she had no need to lie or reveal what she was doing, what she did need was quiet to work and immediately so.

"I need a signal booster for my gauntlet's computer systems. I'm being escorted to the capital of these Parthenian Knights but it's going to take a week and I want to acquire some means of passing the time with things my country has to offer."

"Fine." Miyo had to work fast to make Karen content and end the call quickly before she began to suspect something was off "There. I included the same kind of signal booster Tenn uses along with all of the upgrades I wanted to add. Now leave me alone for now." Miyo quickly shut down the line between them and even shut down her communication systems to prevent this from happening again.

* * *

With some well-earned peace, Miyo quickly witnessed Anonydeath appearing from a hidden wall panel entrance she designed solely for him

"Good timing Anonydeath. I'm about to begin Project Synthesis. Wait, are you going to be okay in here?"

"Oh relax. My suit has anti-EMP countermeasures. And you do remember our agreement of how, in exchange for me getting you this armor from Thraaklon's vault, I'd have free reign over everything there."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But can I ask what you chose to do with it all Anonydeath?"

"Quite simple really." Anonydeath gave a simple laugh as he opened his inventory and some of Thraaklon's old technology that he created and stored in the vault he hid in the snowy mountains north of Planeptune appeared in front of him "We're partners so why keep things from each other? Besides, we'd get the most of out of this stuff as a pair than me keeping them for myself."

"Anonydeath" Miyo began feeling her eyes welling up at Anonydeath's surprising generosity as she looks toward all the people unconscious in the room "Help me move these people to the operating tables will ya? We need to hurry along with Project Synthesis. I have their blood samples so I can use them to create clones later. I plan on sending those samples to Bae'lin soon since I already asked her if I could store these in the same pocket dimension her family uses."

"Miyo, if I may ask, what material are these machines made of? I don't recognize it."

"It's a magically created alloy used by Bae'lin's family and the Parthenian Knights. Of course, since Thraaklon was a close ally of them both, he had the ability to request its creation for his use. See, even though he was fond of the CPUs, he didn't like that they were practically unkillable because of their special powers so he secretly arranged for this metal: Hacril to be created with the same attributes as anti-crystals, but solely to counteract a goddess' protection. He refused to allow a goddess like the CPU of Tari be given free reign to slaughter people with no chance of retaliation so he cooperated with that ancient shaman and the Parthenian Knights to make sure this worked. He planned on this cycle being established: The shaman's family would provide the Hacril material, he would create weapons for the Parthenians, and the Parthenians would be the one to wage war against the corrupted CPU. A perfect trinity that no longer exists, but I am going to recreate it as a singular give and take form. I am going to be the one who creates the perfect warrior combining the best of synthetic and organic life: The resilience and everlasting nature of the machine combined with the drive only organics can reach. No matter how hard you try, you cannot inspire a machine to protect its country. Sure you can program them to do so, but it's nothing more than lifeless commands. But a human being. They have the ability to exceed their limits when they must. That is what I am seeking."

"You truly are very driven Miyo. But I must ask, why are you taking these steps? It's oozing with desperation."

"I'm dying Anonydeath and I need to be around to complete my ultimate project: the dimensional warp portal. Project Slipstream is an advanced cloning device of Thraaklon's own design and I'm rushing to get it finished. To prevent this from happening again, I've already digitized my own genetic code and thoroughly scanned it to discover the source of ailment and erased it from her own. My clone won't suffer the same fate as me."

"I don't understand. If you know the source of your ailing condition, why can you not heal yourself?"

"Once it starts, it cannot be reversed. The very moment I felt my internal implants begin going haywire and I vomited blood, I knew I was close to death. Even after I subjected myself to my own nanotechnology, I knew that was only delaying the inevitable. But the problem is, I have no idea how my clone will act once I officially breathe life into her so I need a safe-guard to keep her safe from enemies. A personal army to protect her from harm, and to do so, I've installed a mind-control chip tailored to my own genetic code. Of course, I intend to take a further step to act as an advisor for my clone and more importantly: keep you in line. I have a supercomputer with an enhanced thirty petabyte hard-drive with a secret program designed to automatically encrypt and organize my memories and allow me to interact with the world to an extent once I make the needed adjustments. Low priority compared to the clone naturally and this project right now. Help me."

* * *

With Miyo's order given, the two of them began moving all of the unconscious bodies to the various operating tables and placed a set of armor next to each of them as she placed modified versions of the Eclipse headset onto them all, quickly connecting them to the armor and further connecting them to the same controller she used to create the nanotechnology she used on Katsuo

"It's time for your lives as humans to end. Be reborn as the perfect mechanized army!" As she activated the controller, she would bare witness to the nanomachines slowly but surely eating away at all of their bodies as they melt into nothingness, their essence being sent to the armors, though the sight of it disturbed Miyo immensely "Ugh, this is brutal to witness. I may have been the one to start this nightmare but it's painful. Seeing these brave fighters getting dissolved by my own nanomachines."

"Miyo, are you going to be okay?"

"Likely no. But my mission must be achieved and I have to commit to these harsh methods to do it. While I'm not an extremist, I've always seen the logic of the end justifying the means. I've helped build a freaking neutron bomb so I should be able to handle my own technology eating away at the bodies of these people, my own friends in particular. I'm not being cruel, this is a necessary step for everyone to return home. Yeah..." Miyo genuinely struggled to make this vocal, especially when she was clearly trying to reassure herself this is right when she knows she is committing a very morally questionable act, as she continued to watch Katsuo, Yuuki, and the others losing their bodies "I'm a Scylorian, a race genetically created with warfare and violence in mind. I should be able to handle this no problem."

Despite her response suggesting she is able to handle the gruesome sight in front of her, it is obvious that she is close to breaking but felt something akin to relief as the bodies vanished completely. With the procedure completed, she deactivated the 'traps' and repressurized the room to clear out the gases, taking her gas mask off afterward, she unleashed as the machines began to whir with motion, their eyepieces glowing an even brighter blue and began to assemble into a solid formation but one of them stepped forward and crouched down to one knee and bowed in front of Miyo

"We have been reawakened master. What are your orders?" Although Miyo was unable to tell them apart based on sight, she was able to recognize Katsuo's voice from the mech in front of her, pledging his loyalty so nonchalantly.

"All of you, kneel and address your new master." This unfortunately has caused Miyo to begin succumbing to a minor power trip as the fact the control chips in the mechs are working, especially when she sees them doing as she instructed with a combined 'We hear and obey Master.' coming from them all in unison "Now for your mission. It is necessary for you to maintain your identities from before this transformation. Use your nanotechnology to create both an optical camouflage and a synthetic skin casing and maintain it at all times." After giving her second command, they all rose and shifted their heads downward as beams of light appeared from their legs and moved upward as machine vanished and human form seemingly replaced in their appearance "Now, I want you all to resume your normal lives and act like you have before but avoid giving anyone suspicions about your transformation here. Act as if you are still genuinely human. But remain on standby for any orders from me if the need arises. Lastly, do not refer to me as master in any way if there is anyone even remotely nearby aside from Anonydeath here. It goes hand in hand with the need for complete secrecy."

"Understood." With this last order given, the transformed mecha soldiers left the room, Miyo having unsealed the doors after it was repressurized, leaving Miyo and Anonydeath alone.

"Project Synthesis is complete so we must move on to Slipstream. I'll handle constructing the hardware so I want you programming the software Anonydeath. The steps are recorded in Thraaklon's files so follow them to a T and we'll be able to complete this project promptly and ensure both my survival and your ability to work here undetected."

* * *

A/N: For the uniforms I tried to describe for the Parthenian Knight trainees, refer to the black and red uniforms used by the Exorcists in the anime D-Gray Man for a basic concept for the design.

Furthermore, this chapter only cemented how I have a certain fondness for Miyo. Underneath it all, she's still a nice person but she has a rather warped mindset because of the life she lived in Gamindustri and if you combine that with this certain fact: her race: the Scylorians was created with warfare in mind so violence and cruelty is something she's going to feel drawn towards even if she tries to fight it, her being half Isnian and half Scylorian certainly helping suppress those urges yes, but because of that mixed bloodline, she has a good number of insecurities about her competency when it comes to producing technology since she knows she is incapable of being as good as those from her society, though she would never let that show. But the moment she realized that her body began breaking down, she knew she had to act fast and do whatever she deemed necessary to secure both her dimensional travel project and the life of her successor, even if she has to commit morally questionable acts in the process.

In layman's terms, I like her since she's the first of my original characters to be a tad unpredictable in the morality chart. All of my prior characters were pretty cemented into good alignments but Miyo is the first whose morality is all over the place. Like I said, she is a good person deep down but she is not afraid to commit evil intentions like killing if the need demands it, and even does it if people steal her technology since what she makes is leagues ahead of what Gamindustri is capable of and she doesn't have all that great a trust in a population that can't handle it so even her evil acts have some morally gray intention. Good or evil, she's unafraid to do anything necessary in her objectives but that doesn't mean she's completely immune to herself breaking down if she goes too far.


	2. Divinity Sentai

A/N: Although the three factions are creations of Nintendo in their Legend of Zelda series, I'm using a great deal of content made from the creator of Hyrule Total War: UndyingNephalim who has given me permission to use his works in this fanfic I'm writing here. If you want to learn more about the guy and the game, look up his channel on youtube with the same name: UndyingNephalim or his DeviantArt account.

The situation I describe in the chapter is a slight exaggeration/writer enhanced version of what happened during a free-form campaign I played a while back where the Gohma practically curbstomped the Gerudo and Hylians and conquered most of their territory but an alliance between the Wizzrobe and Lanayru popped up and quickly took over Arrghus and Midoro respectively while the Darknuts made a move toward Vitreous while both the Wizzrobe (my faction at the time) and the Darknuts also sent armies to reclaim the Hylian plains and Gerudo Desert. The only things I've truly been exaggerating in my portrayal here are the diplomatic arrangements between the Wizzrobes, Darknuts, and Lanayru Zora which are limited because of how Medieval II is designed, the way the former two factions cooperated with the largely exterminated Hylians and Gerudo to protect them (it's similar to the vassal state feature, but the negative repercussions largely removed and more organic), the multi-tasking in army deployments and cooperative elements in how all three factions were working together to some extent (in layman's terms, the coordinated efforts in the desert and Hylian plains are my 'enhancements' while the combined march into Gohma territory did actually happen, it was just all independently): The Darknuts took Vitreous with their own armies in addition to aid they secured from Daira Marauder mercenaries, the Lanayru Zora and Wizzrobes combined their armies to fight along the Hylian fields to free Lon Lon Ranch, Hylia Marine, Naldoriko, and Malkariko from the Gohma with surprising help from the Sheikah, Kokiri, and Ordona factions even though none of them had the individual strength to fight the Gohma because of their distances so their aid was exclusive to freeing Hyrulean territories from the Gohma, protect Hyrule Prime, and fight against the Gohma in Arrghus and Midoro, and the penultimate task was a combined Wizzrobe and Darknut army fighting against the Gohma in Moruge. Their ultimate mission was launching a three-pronged assault from east, west, and south on the Gohma's capital: the Grand Central Hive. In the east, the army was headed by Zalunbar (Vaati operating in the shadows like he always does), in the south, the combined Darknut/Wizzrobe army was led by four of their prominent leaders in Senturon, Onan, Lana, and Nostrum, and in the west, the Wizzrobe/Lanayru Zora army was under the command of Carock, Laruto, and Aydia. While it's not all that possible with the game's own engine limitations, it's an idea of how 'epic' a war I'd love to see in the game.

Realize that I am fully aware of how the whole XX year system works but it's challenging to work around it while trying to show the passing of years in a narrative sense without confusing both you guys and me. It's why I have been using years like 20XX, 22XX, 27XX, etc even though it's logically infeasible in this setting since it'd imply that roughly 700 years have passed. I'm bending heel for everyone's convenience. This is one of the few times I'm deliberating fudging the game's continuity to this extent. Essentially, I'm sacrificing feasibility for convenience.

Lastly, the little battle segment below was inspired by both what happens in Victory, Re;Birth 3, and the question asked by one of my readers in Neptunia.

And yes, I know the title of this chapter is rather cheesy, but it's the best summary I can give about this one.

 _Disclaimer: I don't own anything aside from the words I write and the characters I create. Credit goes to the creators and contributors of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, the anime: Gonna be the Twintail, and any others I bring mention to in this chapter._

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [13:00] January 15th 27XX

Location: [Unknown]

After being called to Planeptune by the four CPUs rather suddenly, Karen felt the desire to see just what they wanted from her and is met with the image of the quartet with weapons drawn in their HDD forms when she entered what appeared to be a fancy arena with a violet color tone, this arena being where the CPUs asked Karen to meet them.

"So you had the guts to actually meet us CPU of Arcadia. Big mistake!" Blanc was quick to jump into battle as she lept into a run with her large axe, Karen only barely managing to summon her sword to block the attack.

"If you're going to attack me, at least me let me summon my weapon before you go ape shit crazy and try killing me Blanc. Have you ever heard of battlefield chivalry, you ravenous beast?"

"If we did that you'd have too much of an advantage considering your training. You're too big of a threat so it's best we kill you quickly."

"Heh, and here I thought you were my friend Noire, but you're so quick to turn against me. Oh well." Karen weakly chuckled out of both disgust and how she's still fighting against Blanc, quickly throwing her back after readjusting her sword's posture and dashed toward Noire with the blade of the her sword facing her back and has both of her hands on the grip "Remember that I'm far from helpless and I've learned how you all fight, especially your skills. Tornado Sword!" With this skill activated, Karen's replacement sword: Raiden began to glow a multitude of colors and slashed against Noire which sent her flying but has no chance to catch her breath as Vert leapt into battle with her spear, thrusting repeatedly as Karen sidestepped each attempt with the grace of a trained shinobi but falls into a trap as Vert repositions her staff to trap Karen's sword underneath and with her trapped, she catches Neptune gliding towards her in the corner of her eye and disappear from her sight, with the sensation and sight of a sword driven through her chest being visible as she looked downward "Damn you." Karen snarled as she slowly exploded into blinding light.

* * *

Flashback:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [10:00] January 15th 27XX

Location: [Arcadia - Eastern Ocean]

It has now been seven long years since Karen and all of her friends first fought against the criminal organization ASIC combined with their arrival into this world of Gamindustri, and in the five years after the gangs within Arcadian territory were defeated, the country has undergone a massive surge of both military and civilian development as the need to expand into the continent of Keisa was necessary and to facilitate it, Karen arranged for a road to be created by leveling parts of the mountain range dividing Arcadia City and the rest of the continent and on the other end of the mountain range, where even with Arcadia's vehicles, it is still a over a day's travel, a sizable military installation was created which houses, for now, the Arcadian military's R&D division which widely uses Bae'lin's family's dimensional folding magic to create pocket dimensions which hold massive hangers and labs dedicated to creating weapons for their future military organization and surprisingly, these pocket dimensions seemingly have access to unlimited resources which they've taken full advantage of to begin creating the special weapons, armor, and vehicles that will be used by the Arcadian military when it is officially created, and to little surprise considering her position as R&D chief, Miyo has largely all but locked herself in her lab as she's dedicated to furthering Arcadia's technology as much as she can.

While the vehicles are being reproduced to fit the schematics acquired by Miyo, the weapons and armors' existence come heavily from Aufisa who agreed to lend her aid to design weapons leaning heavily toward railguns and four different types of armor colored blue and gold for the four major divisions in the military: Recon Division, Shocktroopers, Heavy Weapons, and Magic. The Recon Division's armor are designed to be very light on armor, yet durable enough to match the Shocktroopers, and outfitted with special rapid-fire grapple technology meant for the most maneuverable of their soldiers to practically soar through the battlefield to act as both intel gatherers for the rest of the army and guerrilla fighters to harass enemy forces for the rest of the army. The bulk of the army is to built around the Shocktroopers which are to act as the primary front-line fighters with both melee and ranged weaponry and receive armor balanced in-between the heavy weight of the heavy weapon corp and the lightweight armor of the recon division. Arcadia's heavy weapon corp are planning on remaining a small division as a means of field-testing prototype weapons bordering large miniguns and is outfitted with the heaviest, largest armor in the Arcadian's arsenals which allows them to actually wield such weapons but given access to anti-gravity pods attached to the armor allowing them to actually move about and serve some help in battle. Lastly, Arcadia has been running recruiting campaigns for magic users to join the military to fill out the two special sub-divisions within the Magic Corp: Offense and Support with the promise of offering a stable foundation for training; this division comes from how rare magic users are outside the Parthenian Knights and since magic users tend to limit what types of magic they use because of how little training they have available to them, they tend to specialize in either attack or support magic. To Karen's surprise, many of the magic users enlisting in the force have been coming from Parthenia since there are many of them who couldn't be trained by the Knights because of their exclusive traditions so they have chosen to enlist in the Arcadian Army and sporting military uniforms as their battle armor since armor would wear them down since they need to be mobile like the Recon Division though Karen appointed two division leaders in Izumi and Haruka, support and offense respectively, and a supreme leader in Leonard.

Supplementing the expansive treads R&D has achieved, Karen has shown her favor in the military by installing a military academy in the premises dedicated for training Arcadia's future soldiers, in particular its magic users so they can leave behind written records for future students so they'd have a more structured education, and to help fight against the extensive drain of resources Arcadia has been using to develop both their civilian and military infrastructure, Karen heard of a famous alchemist guild famous for their transmutation and homunculi creations from Garrus and Wrex that hail from a remote island far beyond the ocean and personally invited them all to Arcadia when she flew to meet them. The offer was very appealing to them since they themselves were having difficulties with monster infestations since their compound was built in a region where three dungeons appeared in the neighboring valleys and even underneath their own compound which was becoming a difficult challenge to keep them suppressed so having a new compound where they can work without having to fight off monsters would be a godsend and with some of the transport ships Arcadia has been using prior to the redeployment of the new generation of military transports, they made it to Arcadia unscathed and have established themselves in the new compound built within the confines of the military district.

During these five years, the Parthenian Knights have kept themselves quiet in their territory though they responded well to the negotiations from their Arcadian neighbors as they eagerly sought and looked forward to the food shipments coming from Arcadia's food plants and as a joint Arcadian-Parthenian gesture, a outpost was established in-between the two countries which functions as both a trading center for them both and as a unilateral border line dividing the two countries although the outpost officially falls under Arcadian jurisdiction arranged by negotiation between Kei, Karen, and Selles though plans are in the making to have this outpost become Arcadia's new official capital once the military is officially formed since it will also operate as its military headquarters. And with the passing of years for the Parthenians who are staying within Arcadia, the trainees: Lilica, Ginham, Lilon, and Astona themselves have grown into their late adolescent years and reached a level of readiness and skill easily rivaling the most experienced Strateons in the Parthenian Empire since they are adopting techniques native from Parthenia and the various different cultures within Arcadia giving them all unique perspectives to learn from and while Charis is considered a criminal by the Parthenians, he's been the most driven to learn these techniques to have a way to surpass his comrades among the Parthenian Knights. And like the knight trainees, the children of the Anamari Orphanage have also aged a good deal over the last five years and several of them are already desiring to enlist as Enforcers for Arcadia's guild or even join the military once they come of age, for instance: Zane Kahae has sought out Miyo recently and asked her to take him as an apprentice since he wants to be a scientist and have a hand in helping his native country overcoming their own flaws; like how the ancient Parthenians acquired the knowledge of farming from the survivors of Tari, he wants to establish the ability for them to perform science while Hector has spending time training with a wooden polearm in preparation for his desire to enlist and after Karen advised Tume to bring her to Arcadia Central Hospital, Mami was given special treatment for her condition in terms of physical activity by being given a special bionic wheelchair which has a prototype miniature hoverdrive based off the Plasymr tank design, which gives her far more mobility though the rest of her condition is still being studied thoroughly. When it comes to Elizalla's own growth as a person, she has only recently started displaying what could be considered free will only a year ago with extensive help from Tume and she has been learning how to use her magic with help from Medea, Lilon, and Izumi.

During those years, Karen learned a great deal about the Parthenian Knights from Selles and Medea, a single warning was given to her about a number of splinter factions that broke off from the core group of the Parthenians through different periods of their history. The skills of those groups are largely unknown to the Parthenians at large much like their dispositions so she was told to exercise caution if she encounters any of these factions since they are descended from serious criminals, not trivial matters like those of Charis' or Wulfric's. Most of this caution was given since all of these factions were created from when they had access to the special magic available to the Parthenians and even had the ability to recreate it to an extent.

In terms of her appearance as Aqua Heart, Karen has changed her CPU wardrobe considerably as Serawi, Suina, and Yuela created a special type of armor which heavily resembles a mixture of the clothes worn by Elizasleyn but with the addition of the armor style used by Yuela alongside a set of hair accessories mirroring Yuela's but with a more futuristic look fitting Arcadia's nature, with Karen adding the special CPU enchantment to make this the new default for her HDD form.

During these five years of scientific advancement, Miyo had to focus heavily on her Slipstream project and repeatedly injecting herself with nanotechnology to keep her mind and body intact though she felt her body growing ever weaker despite her synthetic organs still operating and while she has done whatever she could to hide it, she knows her body has been undergoing severe mutilation since she knew the nanites were undergoing mutations because how frequently she had to inject herself with it, in addition to the fact she had to slightly alter each batch so the different brands of nanites began undergoing mutations from the intermixing, becoming a mixture of humanoid and machine on a level far different than Katsuo and the others, and with five years of work, she has finally managed to complete the project and the fruits of her pained labor and extreme secrecy, particularly with her previous Project Synthesis remaining a secret which is still unknown to all of Arcadia to which Miyo is infinitely thankful for since her robotic army is made up of people who helped them fight the gangs and two of Karen's close friends, was the sight of a circular tube with a perfect recreation of Miyo floating within it which gave her some final relief since she knows she can die without too much grief. She can simply let herself do what she loves until she breaks down because of the genetic 'obedience' failsafe before the Scylorians had gained proper sentience, knowing that she has six more months left at the absolute most.

With Arcadia's unbridled development and surge of prosperity, at the start of this new year, Histoire finally decided to formally ask Karen, who agreed to subtly submit herself to the doctors in Arcadia Central Hospital in her human form not long after she returned to Arcadia to finally get her damaged organs replaced with lab-grown replacements which they only then had been able to achieve for the first time in Gamindustri's history, to come to Planeptune for two reasons: To _try_ teaching Neptune how to become a proper CPU and Histoire promised that she would give Arcadia twenty five million credits if Karen so much and tries to do something about it since Histoire knows it is very likely to be a fruitless endeavour and the second reason is that with Arcadia's military well on the way to being established, Histoire wants them to help the other nations with the task with Karen quickly obliging with the request and to complete said request, Karen assembled some of her best, namely: Garrus, Wrex, Filia, Yuela, Lilica, Lilon, Ginham, Rose, Celina, and Miyo, among many others assembled into Arcadia's first four proper naval ships: the Aconite class naval transport which was renamed from one of the many vehicle designs stolen during the gang war, coming from the D-38 Sabre transport schematics. Karen's plan was to have herself, Garrus, Yuela, Filia, and Miyo accompanying her to Planeptune in these vehicles, with Lilica insisting on accompanying them, which lack windows and are barely lit with a dull orange, while the rest of her assigned people are being spread out to the other countries with the directive of helping train their militaries. For the time being all four ships are together, but they are soon to be branching off to reach the other nations.

* * *

"Miyo, why do you torture us so? The second we open the door when we arrive at our destinations, we're going to go blind from how dark it is in here." Karen was surprised to hear this kind of complaint from Garrus of all people even though she shared in his sentiment; she was just surprised it would come from a life-long military officer like him, however like he said, it was nearly impossible to see the people around her despite the dull orange glow in the interior.

"I didn't really have an option in that regard Garrus. Windows are a structural weakness and they would've shattered from the pressure of how fast these Aconites can go. Don't worry though, I've just sent the R&D labs a memo telling them to modify the design of future Aconite class transports to account for this kind of environment. For now, I've asked for a number of special sunglasses for all of us. It's designed to adjust the scale of darkness in our perception. Here."

Like advertised, when they all put on the sunglasses, the darkness that plagued the Aconite's interior was dispelled and everyone inside could actually see each other.

"Karen, is it a good idea for you to send so many of your best people away considering the situation going on in Arcadia right now? You _do know_ that there has been an Anti-CPU movement happening over the last few weeks right?"

"Relax Garrus, that movement is nothing to be worried about. There's always going to be people who don't like their leader. We've seen them in action and they're just plain incompetent. Besides, I still have many dedicated people remaining to safeguard Arcadia in my absence: Yukihana, Kei, Mamoru, my friends from Earth, Lee-Fi's group; I got my bases covered."

"I guess that's true, but as a Turian, the idea of letting anything like this exist goes against our doctrine. We're law keepers to the core."

"It's a small price to pay Garrus. In Planeptune alone, we've been promised thirty million credits. Five to help Planeptune develop its military and twenty five as a personal favor from Histoire since she wants me to try teaching Neptune how to be a Goddess, even if I fail or give up. And let's not forget Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox. We're set up to get forty five million credits doing this. Considering we have the benefit of practically unlimited resources for our military from that pocket dimension, I'm going to be using all that money to help boost Arcadia's economy so we can realistically support a military since our soldiers do need to be paid. We're not like the Parthenians who have their military so deeply ingrained into their culture that keeping them active is exempt from the idea of currency."

"She has a point there Garrus. Especially when you compare the Parthenians and the rest of the world. By large, your peoples aren't trained in combat but we do admire your officers and special forces since they are very experienced like us. We've spent five years in Arcadia, but this is the first time we're getting to visit these foreign countries."

"Lady Aqua Heart, we're about to break off. We're on route to Lastation like planned. Best of luck in Planeptune." Ginham spoke seriously through the ship's comm terminal, his face appearing as a holographic display over it.

"Understood. Everyone, best of luck."

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [11:00] January 15th 27XX

Location: [Planeptune - City Docks]

After this last communication, the four ships would break their unified diamond formation and began to sail in their own directions and within an hour, the ship Karen is on: Papillion arrived at the docks and when the ship opened its frontal opening, the six passengers exit to find a group already in waiting for them; Karen, Miyo, Filia, and Garrus recognizing IF, Falcom, Nepgear, and Compa among them, though obviously Yuela and Lilica would not know them since they've never been to the 'mainland', noticing IF having the most sour expression at their arrival, though Karen, Miyo, and Filia returned the same expression, though after a minute passed, all of them removed their sunglasses since they would no longer be needed.

"Oh, am I ever so glad to see you again IF. Ya know, I've really risen up in the world. When I started, I was a mercenary brought to rescue the CPUs but I quickly rose to become the leader of the strongest nation in Gamindustri history, well, aside from the Parthenia Empire who I am all but allied with."

"Shut it. I was told to bring you to the Basilicom by Lady Histoire and I'll do so because I'm loyal to my nation. Your friends there are to go to the guild alongside Falcom and Compa. Our recruits are assembled there waiting for you. Finish your business and get the hell out of Planeptune."

"How crude IF. We're here to help develop Planeptune's military out of the goodness of our hearts and you treat us like garbage." Despite her frail condition, Miyo had no intention of not letting IF being the one who acts brash but is stopped by Karen.

"That's enough Miyo. Even if it's justified, hold back on your anger. We have a mission we need to complete. Miyo, Garrus, Filia, Yuela, go with Falcom and Compa to the guild and evaluate the recruits' capabilities. Lilica, I want you to accompany me to the Basilicom."

"Understood Lady Aqua Heart!" With this, Karen quickly saw Miyo, Garrus, Filia, Yuela, Falcom, and Compa depart leaving herself, Lilica, IF, and Nepgear in the area.

"It's good to see you after five years Karen. You've changed so much!" Nepgear nearly took off into a run to hug Karen but is stopped by Lilica blocking her advance with her outstretched hand.

"Hold it, I've been given explicit orders by Quisar Medea Lisalon that I am not to let anyone get into direct contact with Lady Aqua Heart. And trust me, we Parthenians take our orders very seriously."

"Thank you Lilica. I'm honestly a little glad to have a shield between me and Nepgear. She's a clinger."

"But Karrreeennn!" Despite Karen's relief at how she doesn't have to worry about Nepgear coming after her with Lilica guarding her, she knew she's making Nepgear feel bad about this situation considering how much she whined about this treatment.

"You heard her Nepgear. Lilica's acting as my bodyguard here and she takes the job very seriously. She's young but she's as dedicated as Garrus. It's something I admire about her. Let's go." Karen was honest when she faced her guard who willingly gave up the Parthenian armor and chose to wore Arcadian style armor which has been modeled after what Paladins would wear in MMOs but with a long cloak draped black, on the outside, blue on the inside, cloak underneath the chestplate reaching down to between her legs and on the end of the cloak, it shows a very simple yellow colored four arrow direction symbol.

"You honor me with your kind words my lady. Say um. Is it urgent we reach the Basilicom? I know I've been told to protect you from harm, but, um... I'd like to do some exploring and some shopping. Mostly shopping. I always feel some sort of exhilaration doing it since it doesn't really exist much back in Parthenia."

At the mention of her desires, Karen looks toward IF and Nepgear

"I hardly think Histoire would mind a delay IF. Besides, we're entertaining foreign dignitaries. We have to be courteous."

"Fine."

* * *

With this decision being made, the four set out to explore the city; Karen noticing very little has changed even in five years time since she was last in the city and along the way, Karen happened to notice four women wearing rather distinctive clothing compared to the people around them and during the walk, Karen happened to overhear part of their conversation because of the heightened hearing she developed from her training sessions over the last five years.

"We're still missing one person, where is she? She's going to owe me fifty thousand credits for making us wait for her."

"How rude of you B-Sha, especially considering you just got here yourself. Besides, didn't you hear she said she was going to Virtua Forest ahead of us? She said she's trying to study these new monsters to enhance that 'special' power of hers."

"But aren't the new monsters supposed to be very dangerous C-Sha? I heard they actually put one of the CPU's allies in the hospital, is it okay for her to be alone?"

"K-Sha makes a good point. While T-Sha has that gift and knows how to fight, we shouldn't leave her alone. Let's go reinforce her."

After seeing the quartet leave, Karen couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the implications of what she just heard ' _Wait, one of our old comrades got put in the hospital investigating monsters in Virtua Forest? That's not good. I need to bring this up with the CPUs._ '

* * *

After a short walk through the city, the quartet went into a small electronics/accessory store and in the glass cases within, Lilica rushed over toward one and felt nearly paralyzed at the sight of something within it and a quick glance would show she's staring intently at a pink cat themed phone

"Woooowwww, this thing is so cute! Erm, what is this strange contraption?"

"It's a cell phone Lilica. It's like Arcadia's communicators but bulkier and you can't keep them around your ear." Karen explained it rather casually but she doubletook in surprise at the price being astronomical "Oh goddess, this thing must be a top of the line model if it's this expensive." After saying this and noticing the dismal expression on Lilica's face, she gently patted her shoulder "I'm sorry Lilica, but we don't exactly have an unlimited budget. But do you really want to get something from here?"

"Definitely. I may be a trained knight unafraid of battle, but that doesn't mean I'm not a girl with those kinds of desires. Besides, like Zane, I want to help transform Parthenia into a more prosperous place. We've been kept in a medieval stasis for countless generations. It needs to end if we're to prosper. We need people who can become scientists and engineers. The world has advanced a great deal while we kept ourselves in isolation. Blacksmiths are a thing of the past, farming is done heavily with machines. We need to change ourselves in order to last in this new world. Trust me, we're endlessly thankful to Arcadia for saving us when they did, but we need to be independent." Lilica was earnest in her desire to be another individual committed into helping her country evolve into the the future it has been hiding itself from for so long.

After listening to Lilica's determination, Karen looked through the products in the case and noticed a choker necklace heavily themed around emerald gemstones which matches Lilica's eyes perfectly with a fair price and while she knows it's just a regular necklace, she knows Lilica has been working fervently despite her age and has even kept up with her diligent morning training regimes to keep in shape, so she deserves some recognition for her efforts.

"Sir, I'd like to buy this necklace here." After making the transaction and receiving the item, she turns around and hands it to Lilica "Here Lilica. You honestly deserve some reward for everything you've done over the last five years, particularly when you teamed up with Rose to stop that second uprising before they became a threat. And let's not forget the extreme dedication to your diverse training, particularly your work with parkour, though I will say your genetic physical enhancements give you a bit of an unfair advantage compared to others. But that's aside from the point."

After receiving the choker, she inspected it with stars in her eyes and rapidly shot upward toward Karen "I love it. Thank you Lady Aqua Heart."

"You've more than earned it Lilica." Karen gently smiled before looking toward Nepgear, gesturing them all to leave the building now "Say, is there any place where we can spar? I want to show you two just how strong Lilica, and by extension: the Parthenian Knights are."

"In fact there is. Histoire approved the construction of a sparring arena not too far from here in preparation for our military's presence."

* * *

After saying this, Nepgear proudly took the lead and led them to a circular dome resembling a stadium but lacking all but a few seats, fitting for the fact this building is being dedicated for military affairs and not entertainment, and when the four of them entered, a violet beehive barrier began encasing all of the walls and immediately after, Nepgear flew herself and IF to some of the seats towering over Karen and Lilica to avoid being caught in the battle

"That barrier you see is a magic spell Histoire created to help protect this building from any and all damage and prevent battles from reaching the outside world. You can go all out here and not worry about anything."

"Ha, we'll see about that little CPU Candidate. Are you ready Lady Aqua Heart?" Lilica laughed at Nepgear's belief this magic is absolute in terms of its protection and looked toward Karen with an air of fiery determination as she summoned her twin blade sword.

"Ready as always. This is going to be the first time I actually fight a Parthenian Knight. But I just know I have to go all out to even stand a chance. Next Form, engage!"

"Aw, then I'll go easy on you then."

"Don't you dare." Karen smugly chuckled at Lilica's taunt of her scaling down her skills to make the fight easier, this attitude coming from how she is in her Next Form which makes her more drawn to battle.

With this final exchange of words and a single laugh from them both, both individuals crouched down into a runner's stance with their blades at their sides facing backward as they firmly glared at each other, both Lilica and Karen swiftly taking off into a near supersonic speed and seemingly disappear into colored lines, red and blue respectively in the eyes of Nepgear and IF, and clash over a dozen times before their bodies reappear at the ends of the arena, with mild gasps coming from them both at the capabilities of both warriors, particularly Karen since neither Nepgear or IF have seen her capable of this level of combat prowess, it being capable from a combination of Karen's own training combined with the crystallization of the experiences sent to her by Driin before he died combined with all of the power she has access to with a fully powered Next Form, since they've met her and have never seen a Parthenian Knight, let alone one fight. To them, the idea that a teenager younger than IF has the power to match that of a CPU since they're widely considered the ultimate power in all of Gamindustri terrifies them and that's putting it mildly.

"Well done. The CPUs truly are as tough as the legends say."

"Same to you Parthenians. You live up to your legacy."

With only a second needed for recovery, Lilica moved her sword to her side as it began to glow an ivory green

"It's time I show you one of the many special skills created by the Parthenian Knights. Allow me to show you one exclusive to those within the Teken family. Jade Crescent!"

After giving some pride to her family lineage back among the Parthenians, Lilica swiftly swung her sword to the left as dozens of small V shaped projectiles created out of pure light emerge from the slash quickly began advancing toward Karen in a very erratic pattern which prevented any sort of conventional evasion of them though because of her status as a CPU, she was able to perform a tall back flip right above the projectiles but quickly discovered they had homing capabilities since they quickly following her

"Nice try, but I've learned my fair share of tricks from those within Arcadia and adapted them into my own special skills. Asurion Burst!"

During a friendly spar between the pair, Rose showed Karen one of her favorite skills in Asura Edge and even encouraged Karen to try learning the skill, though she decided to modify it to fit her fighting style, which quickly unleashed bursts of energy from her sword in waves which destroyed the projectiles created by Lilica's Jade Crescent, though the collision in skills created deep craters in the ground throughout the entire arena and even devastated much of the walls, especially when Karen noticed that Nepgear felt forced to engage her HDD and created a shield around her and IF to protect themselves from the blast, also witnessing Lilica also having to avoid the blast by leaping from point to point, dodging craters as they are quickly formed.

"We're getting nowhere in deciding a victor in this battle and this arena is getting trashed. Let's call it quits this time around and have a rematch in a more stable arena at a later date. Our combined skills are exceeding the limits of this arena's protective barriers."

"It's a shame but I will concede this draw because of the circumstances at hand. But that hardly means I'm letting you claim victory, I will fight you again when the time is right." As she side stepped the various deep craters the fight created, Lilica walked over toward Karen and offered a rather friendly handshake despite how serious she was on the battlefield mere moments ago.

* * *

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 8 - Karen & Lilica

After departing what remained of the arena alongside Lilica, Nepgear, and IF; Karen caught the former staring at the choker she had bought with fervent favor and decided to stop for a brief moment while Nepgear and IF went on ahead unaware of how they had stopped.

"You really seem to like that choker Lilica."

"It's like I said Lady Aqua Heart, I may be from a warrior culture but that doesn't mean I'm a brute. I like to accessorize like any other girl. But something Garrus said worries me. Although you did leave Medea and Astona behind with your defensive garrison which is being led by Major Nakasone in General Vakarian's absence, I worry for Arcadia's safety with that anti-CPU movement. I am worried that the movement is deliberately feigning stupidity while you were in the country but is aiming to reveal their true colors with you gone."

"Relax. I'm not stupid enough to leave Arcadia unguarded. I've told Kei to keep the police on high alert in my absence in case what you say is true and while it's still young, my advisors tell me that the military has already begun taking in members and training them. In peacetime, they've been instructed to act as border patrol and riot teams for high risk operations the police is incapable of handling. If this movement gets violent, they have the authority to act with force. And while she is still young, I know Yukihana is ready for the responsibility and I've entrusted her with the Valkyrie Corp that Yuela created three years ago. I've appointed her as their supreme commander even though Yuela leads them in most rights as their frontline general. But if you don't believe that my precautions aren't sufficient, you have rank among the Parthenians because of how you're working with Medea right?" After she asked her question regarding the Parthenians, she is met with a simple nod "If you're still worried Lilica, then ask for reinforcements from the Parthenians. We have open borders negotiated alongside our free trade treaty and Selles has more than proved he's willing to send additional knights to supplement those he already sent if the need arises. I've heard that Inquisitor, I mean Strateon, Glerrok has expressed his desire for a deployment over the boundary line."

"We may have the right to do so according to our treaties Lady Aqua Heart, but the human heart is not so clean cut. We're trying to avoid enraging your people by having only a small task force of us living among you until we are seen more favorably. We're trying to take this slow. Also, you do know that she doesn't exactly like being called by that full name right? It's a little silly, but she prefers being called either Hana or Yuki."

"I'm aware, but consider that I spend so much time in this form that formality tends to ooze out of me so I address her by her full name. Besides, Blanc gave me some advice when she visited Arcadia the day we all returned to Arcadia; she told me not to coddle Yukihana too much or she'll be at risk of becoming like Neptune. I encourage her to interact with the people living in the capital; I do have the Scattered Bones and or Celina keeping an eye on her from afar whenever she does so just in case since Arcadia does have a history with gang fighting but I want her to be a productive member of society as our CPU Candidate. Anyway, what you said about you guys not bringing in more forces makes sense when you put it that way. Say, there's something I've been a little curious about. It's not that I'm against you being here; I genuinely enjoy the company, but why were you so insistent on coming Lilica? I originally planned on sending you to Leanbox to help Celina and her team."

"It was Medea's request. I was told not to say it, but you deserve to know this Lady Aqua Heart so you don't end up getting into danger when I'm trying to prevent that. She received an anonymous letter saying that the day you leave Arcadia, you would disappear for good. She refuses to let this happen so she sent me to watch over you while you're here while she attempts to uncover the identity of this person though she mused it's likely that this person is here in Planeptune. I was asked to accompany you since this person may underestimate me because of my age and attempt to attack you. I'm sorry for keeping this from you." Lilica truly felt despondent revealing this particular piece of information since, despite her words, she would've rather kept Karen in the dark which would've allowed her to work without drawing suspicions, since Medea recommended to her that she keep Karen unaware so the adversary would have no inklings that he or she has been tipped off and acted brashly.

Karen let Lilica speak and noticed she was depressed about revealing this information and quickly figured out the reasons for why this information was being kept from her, but shrugged off any anger she might've had and gently put her hand on Lilica's shoulder

"It's okay. I understand why you kept this from me. You were just looking out for my safety. It's extremely admirable of you Lilica, it only shows how seriously you take your duties. Come on, we need to get to the others before they notice we're gone."

"Yeah." Lilica had a giddy smile and quickly followed after Karen.

* * *

Back to story

* * *

End Flashback:

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [13:00] January 15th 27XX

Location: [Planeptune - Neptune's Room]

After arriving in the Basilicom, Karen and Lilica suffered a rather stern scolding from Histoire since she heard that the arena built to train Planeptune's future soldiers got trashed by their sparring session, it ending only when Karen offered to fully cover the repair costs, and after it was done, they were told to go to Neptune's room where the other goddesses were waiting and after accepting an offer of playing a single round of a fighting game with Karen having to play through wireless input of her Eclipse V6 gaming helmet though when it ended, she was quickly ejected and forced back to reality, slowly removing it as she readjusts to her senses since she feels like she was just killed because of the augmented reality the V6 helmet possesses.

"You guys suck. That was supposed to be a free for all but you ganged up on me. How the hell is that fair?" ' _Damn, the developers are insistent on maintaining such a minimal shock absorber despite my crystal clear stance on the matter. I may really need to bring down the hammer if this keeps up._ '

"My point was made abundantly clear in the game Karen. You're too powerful, particularly when you were using a VR helmet perfectly synced with your body's own capabilities enhancing your avatar. If we didn't take you down first you would've won. But rest assured, we're going to get rid of Neptune now." Like usual, Blanc kept to her reserved nature as she spoke, but it was clear she had no ill will toward Karen and quickly returned her attention to the game.

Karen simply sighs as she gets up from the cushioned recliner chair she was using and limped over to the table at the center of the room where Lilica was sitting, drinking some qilan tea that Nepgear just finished brewing

"So that was...interesting. Have to say Lady Aqua Heart, I'm questioning how these countries are supposed to survive when their leaders are this carefree."

"Don't let this deceive ya Lilica. Aside from Neptune there, the others are usually committed to their work but they're just a little too complacent. Nepgear, is there any more of that tea available? I'm parched from this dueling game and the fight against Lilica."

"Sure thing." Nepgear happily dashed toward a nearby cabinet, grabs a shiny silver tea cup from it and brings it back to Karen as she pours it out for her, adding three teaspoons of milk to it as well.

"Thanks Nepgear." Karen calmly began to drink her tea, watching the four goddesses playing their game with fierce determination "But I agree with Lilica. I'm worried for your countries the way things are going. It's been seven years since that first monster displayed that sign of evolution and we were told we had ten years at the most before it became commonplace. We only have three years left max."

"Karen, it hasn't even been a full year yet. Where did the idea of seven passing come from?"

"Nepgear, surely you've noticed us 'extradimensionals' aging and perceiving time at a much faster rate. You must have noticed it with Miyo at the very least since you said you met her when she was a child. I've been consulting a number of biologists who've set up shop in Arcadia and they've helped figure out this puzzle. When you compare those of us completely foreign to this world to those who have been born generations in with this world's own native population, we've found that ten years to us foreigners is about a year to the natives. It's why IF wasn't so shocked by Miyo's change in appearance compared to you. Only about three years would've passed in that regard so the amount of changes would be less. It's why, even though it drains so much of my power as a Goddess, I've been using special magic to freeze so many people's biological clock and make them unable to age. Of course, nowadays Miyo takes care of that with her special technology that can record and endlessly apply magic. Of course, the fact it can only work with one at a time period and can't be rewritten once applied is a little irritating but it's understandable considering how complex magic is. Miyo has used this technique three times now as far as I know: the magic barrier back when my arm was mechanical, the food taste modification that is installed into our food plants, and the age freezing ritual we installed into the convention center that redirects everyone who ends up in Gamindustri to arrive in Arcadia, with the same kind of negation where deactivating it would allow everyone affected by it to age normally."

"Oh, that makes sense now that I think about it. Even though I've known Thraaklon for a pretty long time, I never really took the time to consider things like that."

"Not to be rude, but I can imagine it. It can be hard to relate to foreign concepts unless you experience it first hand. It's kinda why Miyo was so angry with you guys years ago."

"Say, I heard from Lady Aqua Heart that Thraaklon is kept in a mausoleum here. While I know he's long dead, could you let me see what the man looked like CPU Candidate Nepgear? He's spoken of in many of our records but the only one who even knows what he looks like is Grand Master Selles. He was romanticized as the greatest warrior the Parthenian Knights has ever known and one of the major saviors of all civilization at the time. It's fairly obvious much of it is exaggerated but I'd like to know how much of this is truth and how much is a fantasy meant to boost his ego and instruct our humility."

"Please just call me Nepgear, I feel sheepish whenever people address me like that. I'd be glad to show you a holographic display of Thraaklon outfitted with a VI programmed to act like him kept in that mausoleum. I'll show you the way Lilica."

"You have my thanks Nepgear."

* * *

The pair got up from their sitting positions, Lilica bowing formally in Karen's direction, and quickly left the room leaving Karen and the four CPUs still playing their game, and with their attention focused on the game, Karen activated the brand new MRKV-7 model gauntlet designed by Aufisa and manufactured by a collaborative effort by Chian and Ganache, which could hardly be considered a gauntlet in the traditional sense since they're very slimmed down to the point that even Karen sometimes forgets it's actually a gauntlet and not long multi-colored gloves, and establishes communication with Medea who has access to similar technology that grants access to Arcadia's private military telepathic networks exclusive to its top ranking officers

' _Medea, I've learned why you were so insistent on having Lilica accompanying me._ '

' _Dammit Lilica, you were supposed to keep that secret. I take it you're mad at how I had Lilica guarding you?_ '

' _I'm more mad you kept it from me. Do you have that little faith in me?_ '

' _That is far from the truth and you know it Karen Koizumi! Listen. This warning came from Grand Master Selles himself. He fears this anti-CPU movement is a byproduct of either the goddess of Tari's return or possibly even a darker evil hiding in the shadows. Ginham, Lilica, Astona, Lilon, and I were urged to act with extreme caution and monitor Arcadia and the other countries in case anything goes awry. He is willing to take no risks considering how badly corrupted that CPU became when she was merely exposed to that dark power. He has said that if his fears are correct and it is the CPU of Tari at fault for this, he wants us ready and willing to take the plunge in absorbing the power that warped her if the need arises. Better a Parthenian Knight to be corrupted than a CPU in his eyes; while it's a challenge, we Parthenians can still die by anyone's hand but CPUs are all but invulnerable. Better a soldier to be sacrificed than a country's leader._ '

' _That's-_ '

' _We do what we must Karen. We've prepared ourselves if the situation arises, but naturally we're hoping this will be unnecessary. We're proud soldiers, we're not suicidal at the concept of danger. We naturally try to stay alive to the utmost, but if we have to die to protect people in danger and there's no other option, we'll do it._ '

' _I understand._ ' Despite her acknowledgement, Karen was far from happy as she admitted this point blank.

' _I know this is hard for you Karen, but soldiers sometimes have to sacrifice their lives to do what is right for their country. We Parthenians accept this as a means to an end, a noble means may I add._ '

' _I know that dammit. It doesn't mean I have to like it Medea._ '

' _That's because you're a kind ruler who cares for her people. Despite the idea, that is actually a difficult thing to implement in practice. It's admirable. Listen, I need to get back to work monitoring the situation while it's calm._ '

' _Got it._ '

* * *

After this, Karen subtly sighs as the other CPUs are still engrossed in their game since she knows she is failing in the task given to her by Histoire

' _Would I still be able to claim the twenty five million credits from Histoire if I say I failed this quickly? It's an easy fortune considering what Neptune is like, but is it right to do it in this situation when I'm trying to help save these nations?_ '

Despite the money taunting her a little, Karen felt conflicted on which course of action to take, but quickly shook her head to dismiss this train of thought from her mind, knowing she has to avoid going down these paths again and set up another communication line, this time with Garrus

' _Garrus, are you at the Guild right now?_ '

' _I am Lady Aqua Heart. I'm inspecting the ranks of Planeptune's volunteer soldiers. While they have potential, these men and women will need a great deal of training. We're likely going to have to remain here for a minimum of six months to get them battle ready. Is there something you need?_ '

' _Yeah. I want you to check if there are any quests in Virtua Forest. I plan on dragging Neptune out there when I get the opportunity._ '

' _Let me see._ ' There's a moment's silence after this and a response quickly follows ' _There is one quest actually. It was posted by Nisa actually. Er, bad news. She was investigating a rumor of the monster evolutions but she got badly hurt when she discovered intelligent monsters within and was forced to retreat. She's undergoing treatment in one of Planeptune's hospitals but she was able to relay this message to the Guild._ '

After hearing that one of her comrades got injured earlier from that mysterious group, she quickly connected the dots and realized it was Nisa that was investigating the monsters and got hurt so badly she had to be submitted to the hospital from the girl she overheard talking earlier ' _That's not good. If this is true, we need to get this dealt with fast. We can't afford to let such powerful and intelligent monsters exist so close to the capital. I'll bring this quest to everyone's attention. Tell the Guild that the five CPUs are on the case._ '

' _Got it Lady Aqua Heart._ '

After hearing this report from Garrus, she quickly shut down her gauntlet's comm systems and looked toward the other goddesses "Ladies, cut this short. There's a quest we need to do right away."

"What quest is important enough to interrupt this game? I have a score to settle with Lonely Heart over there."

"Hey!"

"How about a quest that involves the safety of your people from monsters?! Garrus told me that Nisa has submitted a quest reporting that there are powerful, intelligent monsters in Virtua Forest that injured her so badly she's stuck in the hospital. We need to wipe them out."

* * *

This report actually introduced seriousness to the atmosphere as Neptune of all people shut off the console as they all faced Karen with solemn expressions

"If this is true, we must act with due haste."

"Glad to see you guys are willing to part from the game, I'm especially surprised you of all people were able to do it Neptune and with such a fire to go out into the field. As soon as we get Lilica back into the fold, we're to assemble into two teams: Neptune and Lilica will be with me; Noire, Blanc, and Vert are in the other team."

"Karen, I can understand us CPUs being obligated to fight to protect our countries, but why bring that knight into our crisis?"

"Noire, let me put this into perspective. She fought me to a _standstill_ in my _Next Form_ which should make me an unstoppable fighter. Let that sink in."

"Okay you've made your point and we have no time to argue Noire, Karen. Let us hurry to Virtua Forest." Befitting her calm persona, Vert was the one keeping things civil as she quickly lead the charge out of the room.

* * *

Hyperdimension Standard Time: [14:00] January 15th 27XX

Location: [Planeptune - Outside Virtua Forest]

As a countermeasure enacted to stop the monsters before their evolution, the fast travel network that both CPU and civilians used to use at their relative leisure has been completely dismantled and has been replaced with the Astronema gates which still allows for the same kind of fast-travel but it requires the individual to use the gate itself which exists in a stationary location but aside from that, it is far more convenient since all of the locations are pre-programmed within the design so people no longer need to visit a place to fast-travel there. After reuniting with Lilica and forcing Nepgear to stay behind, the group took the gate outside the Basilicom and warped themselves to the gate outside the dungeon but while Noire, Blanc, and Vert proceeded onward, Neptune cautiously looked around the area as if something is bothering her

"You okay Neptune?'

"I sense someone's nearby. Come with me you two."

With a confused nod of acknowledgement from Karen and Lilica, they followed Neptune's lead as she accidentally bumped into a woman with long light blue hair and bluish green eyes wearing a black business suit with a white skull at the bottom of her torso and white boots with black strings and gauntlets with blue linings and a black skull, though Karen noticed a rather interesting mechanical hair accessory colored white and blue with a triangular end being kept close to her head

"I recognize you two. Y-You two are CPUs."

"I recognize you too missy. IF told me about ya; you're the one leading that anti-CPU group ain't ya?"

' _She's the leader of the movement?! I need to let Medea and the others know._ '

"I-Indeed. It's like I-I said, this world has no need for CPUs, it needs proper governance and independence from CPUs."

After the mystery woman and Neptune continued to speak in sequence, Karen noticed Lilica staring at the woman rather intently as if trying to recollect a strand of memory before apparently realizing something as she quickly drew her sword

"Lady Aqua Heart, Lady Purple Heart! Get back! That's the ancient CPU of Tari!"

"What?!" Karen exclaimed when Lilica shouted this as she exchanges stares between this woman and Lilica.

"Heh, so you figured me out little Parthenian Knight. Too little too late." The woman smirked an evil grin as if her timidness was just a facade or Lilica unintentionally flipped a switch in the woman's mind as a surge of dark blue energy appeared from within her and it quickly manifested as a magic circle underneath the trio "With this power, I will destroy you three!"

The moment the woman said this, the magic circle quickly proceeded to absorb the three captives within and swiftly vanished as all three disappeared from sight.

"Ehehe, I've done it. The CPUs are gone along with that pesky Parthenian knight. I can't believe I actually discarded that exquisite power in that pocket dimension. But geez I've spent so much energy summoning that power and using it like that. I need time to rest."

* * *

After secretly bearing witness to the disappearance of Karen, Lilica, and Neptune from the shadows, Uzume chose to quickly vanish to avoid attracting the attention of the woman responsible for this mess and to report to Tybalt

"Tybalt, there's a little wrinkle in the timing of our plan; the CPU of Tari somehow broke free from the ancient Parthenian pocket dimension but I feel like we can work with this. Arcadia's army requires both discipline in their warriors and training for their magic users and I've found a way to work that in. While I am not able to control the dimensional gates themselves because of they're so unstable, I can manipulate their path to some extent. A significant Darknut and Wizzrobe army is about to be drawn through a gate and I'm arranging to have Karen meet up with them soon in the Ultradimension, or as I code it: Sigma Dimension. With what I've learned from you, I've set things up so they allied themselves with Thraaklon to keep themselves alive a year before Karen is due to arrive in Sigma, I took a little looksie a while ago and they've established a pretty little citadel city combining the defensive capabilities of the Darknuts and the living conditions of the Wizzrobes with Thraaklon being elected as a representative leader for matters outside the city. However, she will have to negotiate with the three leaders of the combined army: Lana Valashi, Nostrum, and Senturon if she wants their aid. Despite them working with Thraaklon for this long, they may be at least a little suspicious of outsiders since they, alongside the Lanayru Zora, are waging a three-front war against the Gohma back in their world after they all but consumed the Gerudo and Hylians, the rest of the surviving Gerudo and Hylians being kept isolated around Ashinon and Hyrule Prime, their defenses being supplemented by Darknut and Wizzrobe forces respectively in exchange for becoming vassals and surrendering their autonomy. And then there's how the Gohma are fighting, and losing, a three front war. I cannot stop it nor is my interest great enough to care, but with the absence of this coalition Darknut/Wizzrobe army, the Gohma are going to have the ability to regain lost ground and bunker down. Hopefully their rear guards can reinforce Moruge before the Gohma do. They'll be a great help for Arcadia if Karen can gain their support, but their chances of survival are questionable if the Gohma take control."

"You forget Ten, time and space is more organic than you would believe. When the project is complete, inform me of those who have urgent business and I'll manipulate the time stream of those worlds. In this situation, the Darknuts and Wizzrobe that still live when the project is completed will be returned to their world moments after they had first left."

"Got it Tybalt. I'll continue to monitor things on this end while avoiding Rei Ryght's fury. I may be immune to the ravages of time, but I doubt I'm unkillable and that woman is a huge bundle of blind fury with that dark power of hers. As strong as I am, I don't know if I can survive a fight against her. This fight will likely require intervention from the army Karen will assemble in Sigma Dimension."

"Then inform the Parthenians. They've trained for this very occasion."

"I would, but I've been informed of the history regarding Rei and the Parthenians, considering that she slaughtered a lot of them, I'm uneasy going to them right away, even if they have undergone generations of genetic magic enhancements. Besides, I fear that they will be unable to take on Rei directly."

"Take steps to counteract her Ten. I refuse to let anything get in our way now."

"I'll do what I can, but I'm not a miracle worker. Even I have limits. If we're to stop Rei, I'll have to coordinate a defensive operation with my generals. I have a strong feeling one of five capitals at least is going to be attacked by Rei and I need to reinforce them all just in case."

"Ten. He who defends everything defends nothing. Spread yourself too thin and your forces will be unable to defend their assigned territories efficiently, especially when you're talking about a CPU. Keep all your forces on standby and await the moment the enemy makes their attack and then strike. It's risky, but it's your best chance."

Uzume simply sighs and returns her attention to the communication "I understand. Listen, my forces will need supplementing if we're to do this properly. I have complete faith in them all, but they're too few and they can't properly fight large groups without risk. I need to take steps accordingly."

"Uzume Tennouboshi, this is not exactly my problem. I only desire my ultimate mission to be completed. If you believe something is necessary to complete it, do it. You need to stop looking to me for answers every step of the way."

"You're right." Uzume once again sighs as she begins to ponder her options "Know this Rei Ryghts; I'm not letting your ambitions succeed. You're a relic of the past that needs to be stopped and as a voice of the future, I'll make sure you remain buried."

"Good, use that determination to-" Whatever Tybalt was about to say, it was interrupted as a loud screech rang out in Uzume's ears, making her cover them as she slumps down to her knees "Damn, the TSAB is trying to triangulate my location. Tennouboshi, I cannot afford to contact you again while you are in Gamindustri. You are on your own and I cannot provide any more assistance of any sorts in this stage. They are likely going to be monitoring Gamindustri heavily so avoid their detection. I cannot risk them finding my base so I have to relocate it to a new location in the dimensional void."

* * *

When the screeching comes to an end, Uzume slowly pulled herself back up but stops when she feels danger tingling on her spine, turning her head to see a man with dark blue, bordering black, hair in a dark charcoal gray jacket with a white undershirt wielding a mechanical staff aimed straight at Uzume

"By order of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, you are under arrest for aiding a top level criminal Uzume Tennouboshi. Cooperate by giving Tybalt's location and I'll see to it that your charges are lessened."

"Heh, you really think a single Executive Officer of the TSAB can take down a goddess? You're either brave or incredibly stupid!" Uzume simply laughed as she crouched into a battle stance and rapidly launched a round kick to send the mage into a tree with enough force to knock him unconscious from the impact combined with the force of her strike "Damn, looks like I have to bolt too. This guy was caught off-guard but there's no way I could repulse their entire damn army. I'll have to go into hiding, away from Gamindustri until they repeal their watch over this place. Well, it's not the worst time for me to do it since there's not much for me to do in this time period. I'm not needed for a few more years so I think I'll go visit a few more worlds to begin the final preparations for his plan. Sonhadra, Minaria, Elbance, Iuria, Isnia, Aegimius, Earth. Tybalt wants me to secure the MVA's formation with Sonhadra drafting the laws, Minaria enforcing them, Elbance in a support role with their magic and a security council comprised of four permanent members in the Isnians, Valkenians, Pursalians, and the Earthlings alongside any other race they decide to recruit in that council." Despite knowing she has to leave quickly, she knows she still has to contact her team to pass along her final directive "Lee-Fi, look, I need all of you guys to keep your eyes focused on Arcadia and the other countries. That Anti-CPU movement has me worried and if something goes awry, I need you all ready to mobilize to battle within five minutes time. I have urgent business to attend to so continue serving Arcadia in my absence. With that in mind, I'm leaving you and Cybercon in command."

"Understood Lady Ten!"

With this acknowledgement solidifying the fact Uzume has nothing to worry about regarding the safety of the five nations, she quickly began to cast the necessary magicks to exit Gamindustri completely, not a different dimension like before "Well, at least I've laid down enough framework for you to get by and survive Karen. Considering Croire's power over interdimensional travel and her fondness for 'spicing up' history to make it entertaining, it was easy to convince her to help you so I put her in charge of handling dimensional affairs and gathering your next few sets of allies. The rest is up to you."

* * *

When the TSAB agent recovered from Uzume's attack, he quickly noticed that she disappeared from his grasp

"Damn it, she got away!" With this knowledge being made clear to him, he quickly moved a hand to his ear to contact the trans-dimensional ship he's stationed on "Starfall, this is Executive Officer Skylar Maron. Uzume Tennouboshi has escaped our grasp and has likely fled this world."

"She is widely known to be Tybalt's top and most public agent Maron. Her capture is crucial if we're to bring him to justice and lock him away in our most secure orbital prison for his various crimes. We've been given authorization to bring in reinforcements from other TSAB divisions in order to capture this top-ranked criminal if the need arises which we have just done now considering this turn of events."

"How is the status in tracking her?"

"She's slippery but we've finally managed to home in on her subspace frequency so tracking her will be far simpler now. Considering what we are up against in this situation, we've requested a full division of elite mages to follow and restrain her. She won't be able to evade us forever. Maron, I know you may not like this, but High Command has asked that you remain on this world for a period up to five years in case Uzume attempts to sidestep us and return to this world: Gamindustri. The Resources Management Department has approved allocating resources to construct a sub-dimensional radar system to monitor movement in and out of this region of subspace. In addition to tracking Uzume Tennouboshi and Tybalt, we've been told to investigate as to why the dimensional veil in Gamindustri is so erratic and interacting with so many different worlds by order of the Inspection Department. Too many individuals of various worlds are becoming displaced here and they are not happy about this. We've been told to find a way to put a stop to it if possible."

"So I'm to stay to monitor the situation at hand? I don't really like the idea of me being stuck here when I have family back on Midchilda, but I understand how crucial this will be. I presume my responsibilities will be finding her contacts and turning them against her?"

"Almost but not quite Maron. Some preliminary investigations we've done revealed that Uzume Tennouboshi has been investing heavily into a country called Arcadia whose leader is a woman we know only as 'Aqua Heart'. Regardless of whether she is there or not, we must reveal Uzume's treachery and convince Arcadia to help us apprehend her so we can capture Tybalt for his crimes. Avoid enraging them since we need allies in this world. Better yet, find a way to convince them to act as allies in the shadows and have them appear to be friendly toward Uzume Tennouboshi but turn against her when she is at her most vulnerable."

"Got it."

"Furthermore, considering the matter of your family back on Midchilda, we're not heartless so we're giving you near unlimited access to contact them aside from when you have to prioritize the mission or secrecy."

"Thank you captain."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [22:00] January 25th 19XX

Location: [Unknown]

After she was knocked unconscious from the sudden attack from the CPU of Tari, Karen found herself in what appears to be a small forest cave in her human form with a cast on her left arm and legs made out of wood, lying on top of a makeshift bed of leaves and Lilica leaning against the wall with support from her sword, her armor being heavily destroyed showing the white dress and skirt she was wearing underneath it, recognizing Karen's recovery with a relieved smile as she dashed toward her and caught her in a tight hug

"Oh thank goodness Lady Aqua Heart, I was so worried you were dead!"

"Lilica? How long have we been here?"

"Erm. I've been watching the passing of day and night out in the sky and I've seen ten cycles go by. So ten days. We're nearing eleven actually."

"I see-Wait, where's that woman who attacked us?! I remember Neptune calling her Rei Ryghts."

"No idea Lady Aqua Heart, but that's low priority right now. We need to focus on finding out where we are and finding Lady Purple Heart. I hate to burden you right now, but can you use some of your technology to do that?"

"Sure, lemme see." After seeing Lilica pry herself from the hug, Karen attempted to activate her gauntlet's electronic software but frowned as she discovered that none of her saved networks are accessible and there are no compatible ones in its entire planetary range "Well crap. We're cut off. I have zero access to Arcadia's electronic networks and without it, I got nothing; well aside from access to the hammerspace vault which operates on non-electronic frequencies. And of course my mapping capabilities are offline so I can't tell where we are this way."

"That's unfortunate. But we have to make due with what we have. Now that you've recovered Lady Aqua Heart, we should prepare to depart tomorrow morning. We need to find some sort of civilization and figure out where we are."

"Er, about that Lilica. It's not that I don't hate being addressed that way, but I'd sincerely like being called Karen; particularly since I can feel the link to my shares being blocked. I can just barely feel its presence in my heart but I have no way of accessing it. So that means I don't have my HDD and hence, I'm not a goddess."

"Um, okay then...Karen." Lilica felt a little conflict in her heart about this since she was secretly ordered to keep emotional distance from Karen by Selles in case Karen fell to the same dark power as the CPU of Tari so Lilica and the other Parthenian Knights would be able to do what they must without fear of emotional bonds weakening their resolves "I see you've been depowered too. I myself can't feel any magic coursing through my veins so I'm not as strong as I should be. The other reason I know this is because I've been trying to contact my fellow Parthenians for two days straight through our genetic magic network but have been met with silence which shouldn't be possible."

"Okay, so I'm guessing you know how to function in the wilderness considering we've been out here ten days now?"

"Of course. Years ago when we talked with Garrus and asked him that we wanted to become model soldiers under his training, he told us that one of the best tests he could administer was having us 'stranded' in an isolation for a week and a half. It tests our ability to survive with limited provisions and in a foreign environment no less. Best of all, all four of us were placed in different forests so we had to rely on solely our own wits. Of course, back then it was much easier since I had my enhanced strength as a crutch, but it admittedly has been much tougher this time around."

"I can imagine. I'm thankful one of us knows how to survive out here. I'm useless out in these kinds of environments, particularly when I've only been through it two, technically three times. And realize all those times were here in Gamindustri." After admitting this rather sheepishly, she noticed Lilica stifling a laugh and frowned profusely at this mocking gesture.

"Ehehe, I'm sorry, it's just that I'm starting to see you as a regular person and not some ultra powerful goddess. I'm not trying to be rude about this."

* * *

With this explanation, Karen simply exhaled once knowing the intent behind Lilica's action and decides to take a look around the cave and notices a few wood poles arranged into a holding rack and on them, five bracelets, colored red, yellow, blue, black, and white, have been hung up along the opposite wall where Lilica was leaning when Karen came to "Say, where did you find those?"

"I found them in some sort of metal structure I found here in the forest. I'm not as well-versed in tech like Zane or especially Miyo, but I can tell just by looking that these things are some sort of foreign technology. I've been careful handling them until I can find someone who can analyze them properly."

"Good idea. Best not to tinker with things you don't know anything about."

"Yeah. It's really getting dark now so I'll get a fire lit to keep us warm during the night. Believe it or not, the wood here is very strong and can last at least twenty four hours per burning. Wait here."

Despite her words suggesting she was going to be leaving the cave, Lilica simply walked toward a pretty sizable pile of firewood already assembled in the cave and placed four logs into a stone circle not too far away and lit the spark to have it lit into a brilliant flame instantly replacing the cold that was in the air with a calm warmth. After warming her hands at the flame, Lilica put a metal spit over the fire and put two big chunks of meat over it

"Like I said, now that you've recovered L-Karen, we should try to find something akin to civilization if it exists. You said that your electronics don't work because you can't access your networks right?" Her question was answered with a simple nod "Then we can deduce we are far away from the influence of either Arcadia or Planeptune and thus anyone we'd come across would have no knowledge of either country so we should take care not to mention it. Then there's the fact neither of us seem to be able to access our special powers which shouldn't be possible. Naturally it means means we have no way of getting help from either of our peoples."

"Do you think it's possible that Tari's CPU somehow sent us into a different time period? Possibly a future where she was able to exterminate everyone again? Or the past before any of us were born?"

"The future possibility is doubtful, though the past is feasibl-no, I would still be able to sense and contact my people if we were sent into the past. They wouldn't know me certainly, but they'd still know I'm a Parthenian, they wouldn't ignore me like this. We developed that ability very early on. She may have been able to overtake the ancient Parthenian Knights but there's no way she would be able to wipe out my people with how strong we are now, Obsidian Squad in particular would've been the ones who took on Rei. No, it's more likely she sent us to a different dimension where we're unable to fight against her directly. That's the best reason I can think of as to why our powers are so suppressed. They're heavily, if not entirely, based in that core dimension and we're unable to secure a link to them here. If this is indeed what's happening, our path is simple: Return to our dimension, and yes, I know what you're going to say. I said simple, not easy."

"Wow, that's surprisingly...clever. I'm not trying to say you're unintelligent by any means, but considering the culture of your people, it's a little unexpected."

"Eh, I get what you mean. I'm not afraid to admit that we're a pretty simple people. We needed our people strong to keep our lands tame and productive, intelligence was something we largely pushed aside. We did treasure it to an extent of course, but it was pretty low priority. Of course, our little entourage Quisar Medea is leading has been able to learn a fair bit from your country's people and the kids, I just know those kids will play a big part in helping Parthenia evolve for the better, Zane in particular since he's learning a lot about technology from Miyo. Of course you're playing a huge part when you built Kadis Outpost as a means of helping us learn these new skills gradually. Oh! The meat is done."

The pair quickly took the cooked meats with some poles as they begin eating into them, taking breaks here and there to talk about the situation at hand

"So fill me in if you can Lilica. The last thing I remember before waking up here was being outside Virtua Forest."

"Things got pretty bad after that magic circle drew us in. We fell from a pretty high distance bordering that mountain out there-" Lilica took a moment's pause and pointed out to the cave entrance, a large mountain range being in the distance "And we both took a few rough tumbles before I was able to regain my balance and shielded you as I slid down the mountain side. As you can imagine, that stunt destroyed my armor and even then, I couldn't handle the pressure near the end and it sent us flying a short distance which caused your injuries there. It took me over an hour to get back in shape to walk. After that, I did my utmost to carry you to this cave even though it was difficult doing so when I was pretty beat up myself. I then hurried to find firewood, food, water, something to treat our injuries; I went two days without sleep out of concern for you."

"Wow, that's incredible. Even when you lost your strength as a Parthenian Knight and took such injuries protecting me, you were able to bring me all this way? Your willpower is extraordinary Lilica."

"Ehehe, you're embarrassing me. I told you didn't I? I was told to protect you and I'm going to do that to the utmost of my ability. While it's all figurative of course, but that pact is what keeps me going."

"I mean it. Anyway, once the morning comes, I agree we do need to find civilization, but we also need to figure out what happened to Neptune and-are you listening to me Lilica?" Karen couldn't help but inquire since Lilica's attention seemed like it was distracted elsewhere.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just that I can't help but feel like there's some sort of spirit or energy residing in those bracelets. Something about it is calling to me and telling me to put it on."

"Maybe you're just really tired Lilica. You've been through a lot while I was unconscious. Look, go get some sleep. I'll keep watch for a while."

"Thank you." After finishing her meal, Lilica slowly walked toward a second pile of leaves further into the cave and laid down upon it and almost instantly fell asleep.

"Wow, you really must have been tired if you fell asleep this fast." Karen fought the desire to gently chuckle at the display since she knows that Lilica did all of this solely for her sake, but she too feels an odd sensation coming from the bracelets like Lilica said "She was right, I sense some sort of energy coming from them too."

* * *

Moments later, a soft voice begins to ring out in her mind as she gently grips her head, seeing a subtle glow from the white bracelet " _Calm yourself, this is not your mind playing tricks on you, this is reality._ "

' _What's going on? Who are you?_ '

' _The full answer is more complicated to answer than I'd like since I'm just a copy of her, but I'll keep it simple, you can call me Twoearle. As I am now, I am an artificial intelligence created to perfectly mimic her, excuse me, my personality and house my memories of the past, particularly our conflicts with the Ultimagil, my interactions with my friends, and the fate of my homeworld: Linaria because of Ultimagil._ '

' _Okay, so the bracelets have artificial intelligences housed within them created as mirrors of the previous users?_ '

' _Oh, you ARE a clever one. I mean it by the way, no sarcasm. I didn't expect you to understand my answer so quickly. Listen, I'd hate to impose, but I'm getting overwhelmed by transmissions from my friends here, so I need you to reactivate the telepathic communication system I added through updates through our joined network so they can stop harassing me since I'm the only one able to talk normally. Aside from our AI cores, everything got deactivated when we found ourselves in this world. Your friend there unintentionally restored mine while she brought us five here._ '

' _Hold it, how do I know you're not trying to trick me or something? You could be using me to some end for your benefit._ '

' _Oh geez. You DO realize I'm just a freaking bracelet right?! The worst I can do is transform your body and even then, it has to be voluntary with your own desires. I can't force it on you._ '

' _Sorry, I'm a little uneasy because of some recent events happening to me._ '

' _Understandable. Now, could you please restore the communication systems? My friends, particularly the flat-chested barbarian, are getting a little frustrated right now._ '

' _Uh, sure._ ' Karen felt a tinge of hesitation with the term 'flat-chested barbarian' being tossed around like it was nothing as she approached the five bracelets and inspected them from a short distance but she fiddled about with the yellow bracelet but she avoided touching what appeared to be the lens of the device since she has no idea what she's doing and does not want to risk damaging or triggering something she shouldn't ' _Ugh, I should've been asking Miyo for tech lessons so I'd have some semblance of knowledge into this field._ '

' _This is painful to watch. I can so easily tell you're inept with technology of this sort, but I'm willing to grant an exception since my three Tail Gear creations, Izuna's improved Glasses Gear, and my custom made Master Gear systems are unlike anything in existence. Just follow my instructions step by step. I'll keep them as simple as I can. Also, as much as this would normally excite me, you're really getting Erina riled up and it's starting to terrify me, so please stop meddling carelessly with that one bracelet._ '

As she followed Twoearle's instructions, she quickly saw the remaining four bracelets glow as well and moments later heavy pants is heard in Karen's mind, recognizing a dull repeated glow from the yellow bracelet which is either being ignored or is completely unrecognized by the others.

' _Twoearle, how dare you call me a flat-chested barbarian! If I had a physical body, I would strangle you until you croak like a frog!_ '

' _Aika, stop it already. Can't you show any degree of gratitude toward the woman who restored our ability to communicate with people aside from the five of us?_ '

' _I suppose Soji. Thank you stranger, whoever you are. My name is Aika Tsube, my friends here are Soji Mitsuka and Erina Shindo, I suppose you could consider Anko Isuna as a friend, and you're already acquainted with this huge pervert Twoearle. Our human predecessors had alter egos in Tail Red, Tail Blue, Tail Yellow, Tail Black, and Silver Phantom. See, although our AIs are modeled after how we are as our ordinary human selves, these bracelets are designed to manifest as how we look as the Twin-tail warriors._ '

' _Twin-tail warriors. To each his own? Right, I should give my name too since you introduced everyone Aika. My name is Karen Koizumi. Pleased to meet all of you. Actually, I heard Lilica say she felt these bracelets call out to her. Do you know why this would be happening?_ ' Karen would feel more confused about this, but with everything she's experienced in the last seven years, she can hardly bring herself to be surprised by the idea of twin-tailed warriors.

' _She probably feels a connection to the Tail Gear and is finding herself subconsciously drawn to it. While I don't want to force her to take it, having a new generation of fighters taking up the mantle will certainly be a joy to us all to some extent. Look, one way or another, her body's feeling obligated to seek out the one she feels the most affinity for and activate it, so just let it happen._ '

' _One thing worries me Twoearle. She has special powers which are being suppressed in this dimension; will this Tail Gear have any sort of backlash when they're put into conflict?_ '

' _Hardly. My improved Tail Gears are designed to create on the spot mirror images which encases the original self in a protective shell while the bracelet is active use, in addition to how it doesn't require elemental attributes anymore. It's impossible for any clash between the person's original self and the individuals created through the Tail Gear. The previous me went to great lengths to ensure this happens._ '

' _Okay, one last question since I need to return focus to keeping an eye on my watch. How did you five end up in this world?_ '

' _No idea actually. The original Twoearle's daughter was planning on bringing the five of us back to Linaria but her ship was struck by an ion storm in a possible attempt of restoring its twin-tail attribute. During the crisis, she placed herself into suspended animation to outlast the storm and it somehow brought the six of us here. So erm, when you two leave this cave, could you please take the five of us. go to the ship again and reawaken her? I just know she'll be grateful._ '

This request made Karen remember how Caelus called out to her as a means of saving her life back in the Gamindustri Graveyard seven years ago and it served as one of the major catalysts for this journey and it may be a repeat case here.

' _I'll do what I can Twoearle._ '

' _Thank you._ '

* * *

After this, Twoearle and the others decided to remain silent in the matter as Karen gently shook her head to calm her thoughts and looked toward Lilica

' _I don't know how long we're going to be in this dimension so I need to stop your aging until we can return to our home dimension. Hopefully I can find a CPU Memory or something so I can regain my power as a Goddess. Trust me Lilica, I have every intention of lifting this spell the moment we return to our home but for now, I need you to remain as you are._ ' Karen muttered this inaudibly as she approached the sleeping Lilica as she muttered an incantation under her breath as she saw her hand glow a dull gold and she gently placed it over Lilica's forehead as a small magic circle began to appear underneath it "As the goddess of Arcadia, Aqua Heart, I bestow this gift of immortality upon you." After this formal proclamation, the magic circle seemingly disappears, even though Karen knows this is just the magic circle becoming invisible to hide its presence "It's done."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [8:00] January 26th 19XX

Location: [Unknown Forest]

When the morning came, Karen and Lilica left the cave and considering Twoearle's request the night before, Karen asked Lilica to take her to the 'metal ruin' that she found days ago, along the way explaining the situation with Twoearle and the others to Lilica, and found a rather box shaped shuttle crashed head first into the ground and segments of the once proud shuttle being scattered around the clearing

"If I knew there was someone in here, I would've looked further in here."

"Don't feel bad Lilica, you couldn't have known unless you had this information to begin with. But wow, this ship truly has seen better days."

"I'd be inclined to agree if it didn't have my planet's special fabrication technology. Let me work my magic, and getting her back in prime condition will be easy."

"I can imagin- wait, your ship has fabrication technology Twoearle?"

"How else would you expect me to maintain my ship when it's in deep space? I might be an alien but that doesn't mean I can survive in that endless vacuum. I'd need a means of producing materials when I'm a great distance away from planets. Space is far more sparse than you'd think."

"Wow." Karen couldn't help but express some amazement at Twoearle's capabilities before shrugging it off as she and Lilica enter the ruined shuttle, being forced to sidestep many of the damaged floor panels and electronic wiring that used to comprise the nearby walls and come across a room with a single glass tube with a person within; Karen seeing it being a young woman who appears to be around her own age with shiny silver hair with red highlights mixed in throughout wearing a black kimono with flower patterns throughout with a white obi and a thin red obi jime.

"That's her; my lovely daughter: Klumse. She was born from the love Soji and I have for each other."

"Yeah right, you insane psychotic pervert! You did your outright criminal actions when Soji was sleeping!"

"You forget Aika, that I had full support from mother to do this, so there." Karen couldn't help but inaudibly groan at the rather immaturity Twoearle displayed, particularly when she heard Twoearle stick her tongue out but it did change into mild unease when she heard Aika's blood-curdling growls.

Karen simply blinked in disbelief at this turn of events, Lilica simply scratching her cheek in turn with both having a little difficulty in conversing until Karen was able to clear her head of this and lets part of Twoearle's previous conversation sink in "Your daughter's named Klumse?"

"Mhm. She's an utter sweetheart."

"At least she's right about one thing. Klumse's innocent unlike her perverse mother. The fact you 'created' her is the one thing I can proudly say about you Twoearle, though you really surprised me when you made me her godmother. I say this a lot, but I honestly expected you to choose Erina."

"It was an option sure, but at the end of the day, you were the one I wanted to have an influence in her life should something have happened to Soji and I."

" _Do they seriously not see that that name is basically pronounced as clumsy or do they know and are just shrugging it off? I hope she's not like that since I really do not need a klutz around me. Well, if she's a technological savant, I might be willing to look the other way. Until I find some way to reestablish contact with Arcadia, I need to rely on the people in this dimension._ " "So, how do we free Klumse?"

"During the ion storm, the shuttle's primary reactor was deactivated and the secondary reactor suffered malfunctions which distorted its normal features and it created a transparent ray shield preventing anyone from so much as touching it. Deactivating this shield requires us to repair the shuttle's primary reactor since it's active as a vicious safeguard. Listen, this might be risky so let me handle the repairs remotely. Attach my bracelet to that terminal and I'll get to work."

"How long a wait should we expect from you Twoearle?" Karen genuinely wished to know how long this process will take since she and Lilica are eager to find civilization ASAP.

"Considering I'm an AI and the damage here, about an hour or two at the longest."

This response had Karen inaudibly sigh at how long a wait she'll have to go through as she looks toward Lilica "Okay, I'm going to stay here with Twoearle." Karen took a moment's pause as she closed her eyes to focus on telepathy ' _Twoearle, you said Lilica has a connection to one of the Tail Gears right? Do you know which one?_ '

' _Yes, I've been talking with Soji and the others and Aika has said she felt that synergy 'click'. So based on this information, Lilica's prime to become the third Tail Blue._ '

' _Okay then._ ' With this discovery being made clear, she knew how to proceed "Lilica, since you said your powers as a Parthenian has been sealed like my HDD, would you consider taking in a source of power to replace it while we're here?"

"What do you have in mind Karen?"

"The Tail Gear. Twoearle told me that Aika felt the same kind of synergy you felt last night when you said you felt it calling to you. That suggests you have the capability to use it."

"She's right you know. While I don't want to force you to take it and I don't know how strong it'll be compared to whatever power you had before, I know you're capable of becoming the third generation Tail Blue after myself and Twoearle."

"Hmm, if it means I'll have some semblance of strength back in me since I feel so weak as I am now, I'll accept your offer Aika. What do I have to do to become this Tail Blue?"

"It's simple. Put the bracelet on your main arm, press the button at the 'heart' of it and speak the incantation: Tail On!"

"Okay." Lilica proudly smiled as she attached the bracelet to her right arm and followed Aika's directions as she shouted out 'Tail on!' as she crossed her arm in front of her torso.

With the incantation casted, Lilica is encased with a bright translucent blue glow as her hair began to grow into two very long twintails colored sky blue and her eyes changing from green to the same shade of blue as well, with her attire being a rather revealing set of armor matching her blue color scheme revealing parts of her arms, midriff, and upper legs. The sight of the transformed Lilica gave Karen a confused mixture of relief and embarrassment since, while Lilica's new attire as Tail Blue is revealing, her body is not proportioned in such a way that anything scandalous can be seen on her person, Karen having to fight displaying a blush on her cheeks

' _Why the hell am I even thinking about her figure like this?! Even if I am finding myself a little bit drawn toward the same gender after what happened with Noire, Lilica was appointed as my guardian and I can't let myself be drawn into this kind of thing!_ '

"So how do I look Karen?"

"Erm, good. But Twoearle, is there a way to hide those specific parts? We want to maintain some modesty here." After Karen explained this, Lilica shifted her gaze toward one of the shiny silver walls out of confusion and saw what she was talking about as she blushed a dull red of embarrassment at how much she was revealing with her wardrobe and weakly nodded in agreement regarding what Karen sought in terms of knowledge.

"Easy, Lilica just has to envision it and those elements will fade underneath the armor's material. You humans are so finicky with your modesty but I've grown to accept it."

With this, Lilica closed her eyes and like advertised, the revealing segments of her armor were covered with blue or white cloth respectively

"Okay, with this done, Lilica, I want you to see if there's any civilization nearby. If Neptune lost her HDD like me, I'm worried for her life. Furthermore, we need to figure out if we can learn anything about this dimension. Twoearle, would you be okay with us using this shuttle as a base when it gets fixed up? If the worst case scenario is present and this place has no civilization, we need a place we can consider home." After Karen asked this of Lilica, she immediately nodded as she dashed out of the shuttle.

"Go ahead. Honestly, this shuttle was meant to be used, not abandoned in this awful forest. Thankfully, because of my people's advanced technology, this shuttle should be fully repaired within a week at the longest. I can get some repairs done on the crew quarters quickly enough since that area simply had everything tossed about and get the mess hall back in working condition by the time the day ends. The command center, bridge, engine room, mess hall, R&D lab, and everything else is trashed. Based on how organic beings tend to be, I'll be focusing on repairs in this order: living quarters, mess hall, engine room, bridge, so on and so forth. Civilian affairs are higher priority than the shuttle's functionality in this situation."

* * *

With little else to do at this time, Karen decided to walk about the shuttle and quickly came a figure floating on a book like Histoire

"Ah, 'bout time you wake up Karen Koizumi. Considering what happened and what you've been through, I'm surprised you were knocked out for ten days straight. I expected it to be five at the longest."

"Who are you?"

"Croire. See, I figured that Rei would attempt something like this when she managed to free herself and since I don't want my fun squandered in any way, I reclaimed a little gift I gave you years ago." With a confident smirk, she spun a small blue disc around her finger, though it quickly served to enrage Caelus

" **That's Aqua Heart's CPU Memory! Return it you thief!** "

"Don't get your granny panties in a twist you relic of the past. Besides, it's rude to call me a thief when I was the one who gave your vessel this artifact in the first place so shut the hell up!"

Karen easily heard Caelus begin to snarl like a Rottweiler at Croire's taunting ' _Stop Caelus, she's deliberately baiting you, don't fall for it._ ' After trying to act as a voice of reason for her mentor, she blinked her eyes once as she focuses her sight back on Croire "it doesn't matter if you gave that to me or not, it's what allowed me to become a goddess. It doesn't matter if you were the one who gave it to me, it is mine so hand it over."

"You really are fiery when you need to be Karen Koizumi. See, it's that mindset combined with your status as an irregularity that I love. In only five years, you've completely broken the complacent mold Gamindustri has been locked in and established a military and alliance that makes Arcadia all but indestructible at this time, but trust me, you are going to be tested once the monsters undergo their evolution. I don't want my fun ending any time soon, so here." Like said, Croire tossed the disc toward Karen as she gently catches it in her hands, seeing Croire vanish the second she released control of it.

Knowing that she has her CPU memory back, Karen refuses to hesitate as she gently tightened her hold over the disc to activate it and repeated the process that would awake its power, but is met with nothing even though she knew it should've activated by now

"I don't understand. Why is this not working?"

' _Let me check it out. Maybe I can figure out what's going on._ ' Karen waited for Caelus' analysis on the CPU Memory as she inspected the room further, noticing an inert silver robot in the corner and a picture frame with seven people in it, in front of them all crouched to the ground is a man with spiky red hair and orange eyes, a girl with dark blue hair and red eyes to his right, one with yellow hair and green eyes to his left, one being the most exotic with long shiny silver hair and sky blue eyes wearing a white lab coat covering two layers of shirts, the outer layer being colored black with the under layer being colored white and a black miniskirt revealing a good deal of her bust being behind the three of them with her arms around the two girls and in front of them all, there is the white robot Karen sees in the corner and a young girl with black hair and violet eyes, though Karen noticed that aside from the robot and the woman with silver hair, they were all wearing the same kind of school uniform, though she quickly saw names written in a very cutesy style either above or next to each person: Soji Mitsuka, Aika Tsube, Erina Shindo, Twoearle, Anko Isuna, and Mega Neptune MKII ' _Wait, that's how her name is spelled? I expected it to be spelled like Twirl. Then again, she is an alien, so who am I judge how they name their people?_ ' After letting this new information sink in, she quickly got an answer from Caelus " **Okay, apparently you need something called a 'Divinity Launcher' in order to activate HDD in this dimension.** "

"Okay, but what is a 'Divinity Launcher'?"

" **Beats me. We never needed tools to use HDD before. It was always something we could activate on the fly. We should try to seek out a CPU and ask for help.** "

"Wonderful. This dimension is irritating."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [11:00] January 26th 19XX

Location: [Twoearle's Shuttle]

During the repair work, Karen spent most of her time lying down in front of a coach in the damaged bridge while Twoearle released three small maintenance droids from hidden compartments within the walls, where the fabrication devices are hidden according to Twoearle, which began repairing the damage the shuttle had taken, though like she said, she didn't see a single one working in the bridge since Twoearle mentioned that the bridge was a low priority since there's no idea if there's civilization anywhere close so the need for a stable 'home' is high now that there are living beings who need that kind of stability in lieu of the fact that before now, the only inhabitants of this shuttle before now were a half alien/half human hybrid, and five AIs stored within the Tail Gear bracelets so living conditions hardly needed to be spacious but what passed as relaxation ended as she heard screams from Erina and Twoearle, making her jump into action despite knowing she has no weapons to summon or her HDD to support her and when she reached the room, she found a eight foot tall wolf man with gray colored fur and a massive mane at the back of his head, wearing dark blue armor broken into segments around his arms, the pants on his legs, and on top of his raptor-like hands and feet though the fur on his torso is very well-trimmed and reveals a eight-pac body shape with rather engorged muscles above his torso

' _Oh shit. I genuinely wish I hadn't sent Lilica away now._ '

" _ **No. Way. It can't be-!**_ "

It took only the sound of her nervous breathing to alert her presence to the individual in front of her as he swiftly turned around, revealing his bright electric blue eyes, quickly holding Karen by her throat with little effort

"Do you honestly think you can invade our territory and escape unscathed human?! You are trespassing on the sacred ground of Lady Cerise Heart!"

"You...You don't understand. We weren't trying to-" Karen had to force every word she spoke since she was being suffocated by this unknown figure but was saved when Lilica suddenly arrived in the room and attacked with her spear in a sidewards slash, making him release her as she drops to the ground and coughs repeatedly, quickly adjusting to this change in pressure.

"I'm sorry Karen! I tried to get here as fast as I could, but this guy is quicker than I was." Following this apology, she quickly shifted into a battle stance and developed an angry scowl "Come fight someone who actually will give you a challenge you stupid beast!"

This taunt clearly enraged him as he rapidly jumped toward Lilica but she leaned backward to dodge the attack and even retaliated with an upward kick sending him flying back into the corridor and sends him blasting through the roof, quickly lunging into battle after him with a strong leap coming from all of the military training she underwent the last five years in Arcadia in addition to her life back among Parthenia.

"Oh come on! Quit wrecking my shuttle, I consider this place a third home to me! But wow, how in the world did she pull that off? Even as Tail Blue, I wouldn't have expected that level of strength in a girl that young." Twoearle spoke as if she had a moment of split-personality syndrome since she was first extremely irritated at the sight of this battle devastating the shuttle before immediately shifting into a giddy mindset at Lilica's strength.

"She spent a great deal of her life training Twoearle. She came from a very experienced warrior culture where she developed a lot of her physical strength but after she came to live among my people, she focused herself on acquiring supportive techniques like her acrobatic parkour. Out of the five students among them, Lilica's the most determined and accepting of foreign influences in her training alongside the choice of weapon she specializes in."

"And I thought Aika was dedicated. That Lilica is on a whole new league."

"Soji, we can talk later; Karen, go help your friend!" While she had been keeping herself quiet and letting Twoearle, Soji, and Aika do most of the talking, this is the first time Karen had heard Erina speak, her voice carrying a refined sense of seriousness.

"R-Right. Twoearle, focus your efforts on getting this shuttle back in top shape and bringing Klumse back into the fold." Karen didn't truly expect to get told off by Twoearle this abruptly and although she lacks a weapon, she does have some hand-to-hand combat training which might be able to help her fight here.

After quickly exiting the shuttle, she found Lilica and the mysterious newcomer locked in battle, spear and fist in hand though it was obvious that she was on the losing side because of how often she was being forced to block attack after attack, Karen theorizing that a combination of how she lost access to her magical enhancements and the fact she expended so much energy tending to Karen's wellbeing over the last ten days are the major reasons for her fatigue here, and the sight of all this terrified Karen as she tightened her grip on the CPU Memory which was supposed to have given her access to Hard Drive Divinity.

' _Come on you stupid piece of junk! WORK!_ ' Karen screamed this within her mind with all the force she could muster out of rage and fear over how the battle is faring when she sees a blue and gold Y shaped gauntlet resembling a miniature crossbow materialized on her arm ' _I can only presume this is the Divinity Launcher you mentioned Caelus. Well, better now than never._ ' With only a moment's thought afterward, she slammed the disc onto the launcher with a sideward swipe as a glass screen popped out of from a slot in-between the two lines of the launcher encasing the disc and began to glow a brilliant gold that attracted the beast man's attention as the gold glow was manifesting all over the area and the expression on his face differed greatly from the bloodlust he displayed fighting Lilica as he carried a great amount of fear now.

"W-Wait, you don't know what you're-!" Whatever he was going to say, he was interrupted by Karen's steadfast determination in using HDD, though she knows she is guaranteed to gain the power because she had it once before.

"Access!" Karen screamed this with every fiber of her being, sensing the need to raise her arm to the sky to activate it properly, as she felt the sensation of HDD envelop her but she can tell it feels different this time around though the image of how she felt ejected from her body during this first transformation felt the same, witnessing herself transforming into Aqua Heart like she expected, but she felt a hint of confusion since she swore she witnessed a double-image coming from Aqua Heart's figure for a millisecond before it vanished.

' _Caelus, did you see that? There was some sort of layer there._ '

' _Not sure what you're talking about Karen, I didn't see anything._ '

With this said, Karen kept silent to ponder as she witnesses the continuation of Aqua Heart's transformation and found herself forced back into her body's own point of view, facing the enemy in front of her with Raiden in her hands as she lunged forward into battle to give Lilica some precious moments to recover, with the swiftness of her attack forcing him to jump back in surprise.

"You actually became a CPU?!" This was all he was able to say before he was forced to leap back into battle when Karen dashed forward, catching Raiden in his main hand and forcing her into paralysis but this was only for a moment as Karen was quickly given the information necessary to use this dimension's interpretation of magic being done through mathematical equations to cast a powerful fire spell burning through his armored claws making him leap backward to avoid any further injury from the spell "I don't understand. You just became a CPU mere moments ago but you possess such power already?!"

"It's what you get for underestimating your enemy, especially one who has been a CPU for seven long years now. I am not a weakling who will let herself be pushed around. Even try to harm my friend there and I'll ensure you suffer ten times worse!"

With time being granted to her, Lilica was able to recover her strength to an extent as she leapt toward Karen's side with her spear in hand but stopped and glanced more seriously at the individual in front of them "...wait a second. You look-" Lilica was speaking slowly as her fatigue has been tested in the battle combined with the mad dash she had to commit to make it back to Karen but she grimaced as she let her spear drop to the ground and immediately dived into a formal bow "O...Oh blessed creators. P-Please forgive my impudence Master Thraaklon! I didn't mean to; oh, my superiors are going to never forgive me for attacking you!"

Karen went wide-eyed at the drop of the name Thraaklon since she finally sees what the man who helped Garrus, Wrex, Miyo, and so many others before them looks like though she is surprised at how well Caelus is taking this discovery since she has made it clear she despised Thraaklon because of their past.

"Eh? How do you know what my name is, and why the 'Master' honorific? Who are you anyway?" This gave Thraaklon a great deal of confusion as he stared at the girl bowing in front of him with confusion in his expression.

"I am Lilica Teken; I am a member of the Parthenian Knights, whom you saved eons ago Master Thraaklon."

"Er, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never heard of these 'Parthenian Knights' you speak of. The only one I saved to that extent is Lady Cerise Heart, whom I serve with all my being." Despite Thraaklon's words, he had some degree of unease bubbling up within the core of his being ' _That's impossible. The Parthenian Knights told me that they had to remain in isolation to train themselves in case another axe-crazy CPU shows up. I was told by their Grand Master that I shouldn't expect contact from any of their members directly like this. Ryokado's family was elected as their representative since he helped me relocate all of them to a secure side of Keisa. Wait, has the day we all dreaded come and Rei Ryghts has been freed from the Parthenians' pocket dimension?! So the Parthenians sent people accordingly? But why only a single agent of the force? And a girl this young to boot? Either way, this isn't good. I need to find her and see if she's still corrupted by that dark energy before assembling the Parthenians into a war. But at the same time, I need to find a way to warn those isolationist jackasses before it's too late. Goddess damn you and your reclusive nature Selles! I don't care if your people are ready or not, I'm going to get some damn help; I'm not risking my hide stalling Rei Ryghts again. That woman slashed off my damn arm in the battle I waged to make sure you and Lunesse escaped to warn your people. Shame she was one of the first to die, she was quite a looker and was even into me to the point where we seriously considered getting married to each other. That was...admittedly a first for me. That injury left me scarred to the point I had to have Cerise use her magic to create a proper replacement since I was using some special wood native to Tari as a means to keep myself alive, that and it was some damn good wood. Strong as a CPU's shield but flexible like silk. It was almost a shame to discard it._ '

"You're a horrible liar. I can tell you're hiding the fact you actually do know the Parthenian Knights. You may not believe me, but we're from a parallel dimension where Lilica and I, respectively, is a Parthenian Knight herself and in my case, am a close acquaintance of their order. You don't need to hide this intel from us."

"Parallel dimension? Now that I think about it, your skills are extraordinarily advanced considering how peaceful this world is. Aside from the occasional outlier like me, no one should be that powerful. And I'm not talking about just you Teken; you too CPU. To have such command over powerful magic like that when you appear to be so young is astounding, and I can confidently say this since you just recently used that CPU memory so your aging proceeded like anyone else's."

"Thraaklon, you mentioned a 'Cerise Heart'. Is she a CPU too?" ' _Caelus, do you know any CPUs with that Divine name?_ '

' _No. I only knew a select few CPUs: myself as Aqua Heart, Uzume, Eris, Corrine, Manila, you, Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, and the Candidates. While there is a great period of time that passed in my sleep where I am unaware of events, I have learned at least two cycles of CPUs passed after my generation. One where a CPU was forced to merge her life with a human to protect her nation and another with the four sisters who created that weird ritual. I do not know the identity of their Divine Names however. Putting this aside, I have mixed feelings about working with Thraaklon because of our past; he committed crimes I am not willing to forgive, primarily him killing my people. If you want to work with him, I won't stop you, but you're not getting my support over it. As much as I want to, forgiving him is out of the question. I will not see him as anything more than a cruel murderer. It's all that bastard deserves in my eyes._ '

"Yes, Cerise Heart is a rather soft-hearted individual who turned her back on combat when she became a CPU and she even managed to get me to largely give it up myself. I do exercises to stay in shape but I try not to fight anymore, I prefer to create technology. That aside, tell me, do you need shelter Aqua Heart, Teken? There is a small settlement not too far from here."

"I appreciate the offer Thraaklon. Although this shuttle has potential as a base of operations, it needs a lot of work to make it proper. Time is not something we necessarily have a lot of. Lilica, I get you're a big fan of Thraaklon and all, but I need you to stay here with Twoearle and the others for a time. Wait until Klumse is brought out of her stasis then come find us."

* * *

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 4 - Karen & Thraaklon

During the rather quiet walk through the grasslands when they left the forest, Karen happened to see Thraaklon staring at his hands with a rather dismal expression and winces in pain whenever he grips his hands

"You okay Thraaklon?"

"You all but destroyed the nerve endings in my hands with that fire magic of yours. Rather strongly may I add. Not sure I can get this kind of damage healed. Strangely I'm not all that angry about it. Then again, I always have valued strength in a person, whether it is a person's physical strength or the strength of his or her own will, though I do find myself leaning toward the latter despite what I look like. Those peoples are the ones who, more often than not, are committed to staying in a fight to the bitter end. Either way, I'm adaptable, I'll find some way to work around this."

Hearing that Karen inflicted such severe injuries to him made her drop her head downwards in shame "I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to injure you to such an extent Thraaklon, I was just trying to protect Lilica."

"Don't worry about it kid. I told you I'm not mad. I'm honestly just surprised the Parthenian Knights are so willing to let a CPU join them, or are you and that Lilica part of some rogue faction?"

"It's like I told you, I'm just an associate of the Knights and Lilica's a young recruit in a different dimension."

"Sorry, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just easier to lie to yourself and deny anything foreign to the world you live in, ironic coming from someone who is from a different world outright. In addition to the fact I've been living among two races that resemble elves and feline humanoids for about a year now."

"I understand. Well, kinda. It's a real case of having to experience it firsthand to truly sympathize in complex situations like this."

"So tell me kid, how long have ya been away from your world?"

"Erm, I'd appreciate you not calling me kid. Although I haven't aged all that much because of how I'm a goddess and all, I'm still an adult. Call me Karen if nothing else."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"But to answer your question, I've been living in Gamindustri about seven years now. Can't compare to you huh?"

"Yep. Been living here thousands of years. Been at Celina's side for a couple centuries now in fact."

"Celina?"

"Yeah, Celina Netzen aka Cerise Heart. I saved her life from raiders attacking her village though it wasn't quickly enough to save anyone else. I took her in and acted as her guardian over the years."

"Celina Netzen?" Hearing the name made Karen's eyebrows twitch with unease since she inaudibly prays it's not the same person since Celina had really been letting her masochistic tendencies skyrocket over the last few years, to the point where anything Karen said to her made her go crazy. While Karen did genuinely appreciate the skillsets she brought to the table with her background as a thief, primarily her uncanny ability to escape any sort of trap or facility, she still had a masochistic personality which scared her, and she has used that thief gift through her appointed position as Chief of Defense to help strengthen Arcadia's security in the Panopticon, the military complex outside Arcadia City, and Karen's Basilicom to make them all near impenetrable fortresses; Celina revealing at least fifteen security flaws in the panopticon alone that she gave suggestions on how to fight against escape attempts in the facility though Celina teased she knew other flaws but were going to keep them to herself, though she promised to make sure no one else could take advantage of them "Does she happen to have curly red hair, blue eyes, and cat ears with an...interesting personality?"

"By interesting, you mean masochistic, yes. She does. Well, in terms of appearance, her 'human' form resembles that, but I've rarely seen her outside HDD since she got it in the first place. She's still a sweet girl underneath it all."

Despite Thraaklon's reassurance, Karen felt her skin losing color knowing that despite her friendship with Celina, she still finds her difficult to work with "Yeah, I can admit that much. Well, if she acts the same as the one I know anyway. She's a rather crazy masochist, but she has certainly proved herself capable when it comes to her 'sneaky' arts. She is gifted in finding gaps in security and knows how to seal them."

"I'll admit that's something this dimension's version doesn't have the skill of. She was something akin to a little kitten when she found herself in this world. I found her about to drown in a rather large lake on the continent east of here screaming for help since she couldn't swim. Thankfully I was nearby and swam out to pull her out. As you can expect, the girl was outright terrified at first since she presumed I was a monster out to eat her, alongside the fact she was suddenly expunged from her world, that she drew a knife on me. It's what gave me this pretty little scar above my eye. I have had the means to treat it for an extremely long time now but I keep it to remind me that not every encounter is a peaceful one. That and the healing process is an absolute bitch. It took me a while to calm her down but I was able to figure things out and, since I was rather well-known at the time, I brought her to a small village in the east I frequented and I asked one of the young ladies living there: Irina Carr, whom I've known her whole life, to raise Celina. In fact, Irina was the second woman I ever loved."

After seeing a sad frown on Thraaklon's face, Karen quickly recalled his words on how raiders destroyed the village and killed everyone in it when he saved Celina's life, knowing she shouldn't try bringing up the matter of how the guy lost two loves of his life and decided to focus on the matter of the healing magic "How so?"

"See; healing magic is empathic on both parties. Basically, each person is put in unbearable pain because of the symbiotic connection the magic creates to accelerate the body's natural healing capabilities but there are two drawbacks: the healing makes your body's temperature rise exponentially to the point where you're near guaranteed to have to spend a week or more resting to cool down and then there's the pain your mind suffers from having to experience at least two people's suffering, yours and your healer. This type of magic heavily encourages people to use herbal remedies to treat injuries and leave magic for injuries that very much warrant such pain to begin with. And let's just say that Celina is proficient with that kind of magic and doesn't like seeing people in pain. It's taken a toll on her."

"I see." Karen muttered near silently since she understands what Thraaklon is saying here ' _There's something I'm not understanding though. Celina's not exactly that much older than me yet she's centuries old in this dimension? Furthermore, she arrived as an adult, not as a child. I guess this really is a different dimension. Has to be since Thraaklon is alive and Celina is this kind of situation, well, she's not- GAH, I hate this!_ '

* * *

Back to story

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [18:00] January 26th 19XX

Location: [Vigeon]

After a few hours of walking from the forest where they had all been to the settlement Thraaklon said existed in the area, the name coming from the Darknut and Wizzrobe leaders who combined parts of the names Vigjaro and Ontheon, Karen, who was 'ejected' from her HDD as she saw the CPU Memory being kept in the launcher in such a way that it seems like she has to act like something out of Super Sentai, explaining the situation she currently is in to Thraaklon who agreed to lend his support however he can, Lilica quickly catching up within three hours time, disengaged from her 'Twintail warrior' transformation prior to her showing up, with the report that Klumse was brought out of her hibernation stasis and they are all working to get the shuttle operational, it being a rather fancy town built onto a plateau in front of a small mountain range protected by a thin three layered wall with four entrances, each of them flanked by six towers and spread out through the walls are six small citadels which presumably serve as guard towers and above each one stands twelve individuals cloaked in white, red, yellow, and dark green robes, the ones closest to the entrance they're using to enter the city are staring them down

"So the Wizzrobe decided to send in some of their Hylian Wizards, Pyromancers, Electromancers and Geomancers this time around. I'm guessing the Darknuts have a score of Jermafensers or Legionnaires hidden away to act as a vanguard if an enemy broke through the gates even though this continent is still so peaceful. Ah, Nostrum decided to send a welcoming party."

As pointed out by Thraaklon, a group of four, one wearing the same kind of red cloak and wizard hat as the Pyromancers on the walls but with this one up close, Karen noticed a rather sizeable avian beak colored orange and white eyes largely hidden by his dark blue fur wielding a large staff with the top having a circular red crystal and a crab claw shaped edge surrounding it and at his side, three ten feet tall behemoths wearing stone gray armor embedded with gold embellishments, though they proceeded forward and mounted three horses that were nearly as tall as Thraaklon was and left through the gates.

"Welcome back Thraaklon. I trust your little expedition was successful?" During his greeting, both Thraaklon and Nostrum extended their hand and wing respectively as they shook the other in a friendly manner.

"More so than I expected Cardinal Nostrum. While I am not going to force her to accept the role if she doesn't desire it, we have managed to attract another CPU's attention onto our little city here which increases our grandstanding in the world. Tell me, is Celina still in the castle?"

"She is, Lana is helping her with writing down administrative reports in that style of writing you called braille. That and keeping track of our military deployments. At present we've deploy a hundred Legionnaires and fifty Wizzrobe forces of various fields to investigate an unknown anomaly that appeared near the Sobik Abyss, past Agathor Forest."

"That close? The three of us just left that forest a few hours ago and there's something there? Depending on what kind of report we receive from our expeditionary team, we may need to strengthen our defenses further. There's a favor I want you to do. There's a vehicle of sorts in the forest that needs extraction and repairs. Assemble a team of Geomancers on the double and have them meet me outside the forest. We need to have it brought into the safety of our city so it can be given the time it needs. While I'm gone, could you bring these two to Cerise Heart, also, contact Senturon and have him meet them as well. He was going on and on about some 'prophecy' about a woman garbed in blue you all received when you entered this world a year ago, and as you can probably expect based on what I'm saying, she has finally arrived and remember not to let your vision blind you to the truth."

"Ah yes, that vision we all received. I'll bring that to his attention."

"Thanks."

* * *

While the pair were talking about the report of what was happening at this Sobik Abyss, Karen had been pondering what was being said by Thraaklon and Nostrum in her mind ' _Braille? But that's a language created for the blind. So this CPU: Cerise Heart is blind? That's horrible. I hope she's not being manipulated._ ' Despite this internal monologue going on, Karen quickly recognized Thraaklon's comments regarding how he asked Nostrum to bring her and Lilica to both this Senturon and Cerise Heart.

"Understood Thraaklon. Come with me ladies."

After seeing Thraaklon leave the city to return to the forest, Nostrum gestured to lead Karen and Lilica along the city road, with plenty of merchant tents set up on each side operated by either reptilians with blue scales, most wearing white desert cloaks with gold linings, or elf like humans wearing green upper shirts and white dress leggings, and along the way, they happened to bare witness to many exotic landscapes which has a rather unique mixture of a desert city alongside a rather modern style one would find in a grassland setting though three buildings stood out in the city: an elegant castle standing tall over the entire settlement surrounded by the city surroundings at its front and a river flowing downward from the mountain at the castle's rear, a large stone colosseum in the eastern quarter which appears to be able to house hundreds of people at any one time, and a circular pentagram style building colored a tan brown in the west

"I see you have taken an interest in the Darknut colosseum and our Wizzrobe arcane college, alongside castle Yaraxnoal, named after the Darknut's Sage of Spirits and Wind herself."

"Yeah, I like seeing foreign architecture like this."

After this exchange of words, Nostrum continued leading Karen and Lilica through the city, quickly entering the castle which is filled with the same armored and cloaked figures Karen saw at the gates and throughout the city though Karen felt a degree of apprehension at the fact she's being watched like a vicious animal even though she understood why this was happening since she and Lilica are foreign to the city, though Nostrum quickly stopped in front of one of the nearby doors and knocked on it with his wing.

"Lana, are you there?"

"I am Nostrum. Come on in."

* * *

With permission given, the trio enter the room to find two women inside, one wearing a similar wardrobe to the Wizzrobe acolytes and wizards that wandered the city and castle, noting her blue hair and eyes and a woman with shiny silver hair hung up in a braided ponytail going down to the middle of her back wearing a rather casual white dress with light cyan arrow shaped lines running up to down and white stockings though Karen noticed the woman's pink eyes having the same power symbol commonplace to the CPUs but at the same time, she saw that her eyes were rather cataracted, showing the blindness Thraaklon mentioned she suffers.

"Who are those two with you Nostrum?"

"These two are new acquaintances of Thraaklon's. Lana, meet Lilica Teken and Karen Koizumi. It has been a year, but the prophecy we all received when we entered this strange world is about to be realized."

"But didn't Senturon insist on a trial to test Thraaklon's claim before the Darknuts would believe it?" When Lana spoke this, the silver haired maiden began to frown profusely and hung her head downward as if she was not happy about whatever this trial is.

"Indeed. The Darknut Trial of Idolatry." Nostrum spoke for a brief time before gazing toward Karen and Lilica, closing his eyes briefly and reopening them as it focuses on Karen solely "Because of the time I have spent around Cerise Heart, I can recognize the magic of Console Patron Units, and I sense it emanating from you. While we Wizzrobes have all but accepted your presence in the vision we received a year ago, the Darknuts are not as convinced of our, as they call it, fanaticism. But there is a way to sway them. It is sudden notice, but tomorrow at high noon, you will have to fight one of Senturon's elite Deity generals in an all or nothing death battle."

The mere mention of having to fight a battle to the death made Karen lose all color in her skin as she began shaking in her boots "A fight to the d-d-death…?" Supplementing her shaking, Karen immediately had flashbacks of when she killed Hisae in a blind fury when she had killed her childhood friend Makoto and when Vasago attempted to kill her friends back in the hospital during the Ragnarok tournament. Both times, Karen felt so nauseous she was on the verge of utter collapse, the latter actually ending with her losing her composure and more. The limit she has been able to tolerate is just regular sparring sessions.

"Nostrum, do these Darknuts allow champions to fight in others' stead? Karen's not exactly comfortable with serious fights like that."

"No, it has to be her. The Darknut Legion has very strict standards when it comes to their soldiers and if you refuse to fight and elect a champion to fight in your stead, they will see you as a false prophet and refuse to support you, even if we all had the same vision where you were our salvation."

"But why must she kill in order to gain their trust Nostrum? We have been living in peace and harmony for a year now, why must we encourage killing each other now?" Cerise's voice was rather gentle and even weary of anything related to combat, and despite her blindness, she was able to immediately tell where Nostrum was standing in the office as she faced him.

"Cerise, this was something Thraaklon said he wanted us to keep quiet about, but there's no harm in revealing this piece of information. See, when Thraaklon first encountered us, he knew we were foreign to this world and wanted us to bend heel and join him but we all refused. But to our amazement, he killed ten Jermafensers and five of our best Death Wizards singlehandedly. We were appalled by the loss of our fellow Wizzrobes though the Darknuts saw him as a living god. Although they will listen to Thraaklon since he earned their respect, if we're to work together, you must exceed his own prowess and kill a Deity. It is either this or survive a full hour in battle against Thraaklon since he killed those fifteen in half the time. If I were you however, I would rather fight a Deity than Thraaklon."

"I'd like time to think about this please."

"I understand. If you'd like, I can give you two ladies shelter here in the castle until Thraaklon and our Geomancers bring that vehicle I presume is yours into the city. Lana, could you show them to a spare room for the night."

"Got it Cardinal Nostrum."

* * *

With this request being asked, Lana got up from where she was sitting and walked to the entrance of the room, beckoning Karen and Lilica to follow her as they proceeded to a rather sparsely decorated bedroom with two straw beds, one on each side of the room.

"It's not much, but this place is being treated as a military installation so comfort isn't exactly all that great since our forces here are primarily canine, reptilian, avian, and humanoid in nature, it's difficult to establish uniform standards in living quarters for such diversity. Try to relax as best you can, I'll get some fruit from the underground aeroponic conservatory for you two to eat."

After seeing Lana leave, Karen and Lilica began formulating plans on both approaches she has available to her: Either killing an elite Deity or surviving against Thraaklon for an hour when he killed fifteen experienced combatants in the ten foot tall heavily armored Jermafensers and some of the strongest magic users in the Death Wizards. Together, they weighed the pros and cons of each approach, Karen inquiring as to how Lilica trained among the Parthenian Knights since she had experience fighting armored foes while Karen resurfaced her training sessions with Rose and Celina focusing as light armored, agile, and powerful opponents in her mind just in case Karen wasn't given a choice in which opponent she would have to fight tomorrow.


	3. Discovery of CPUs

Ultradimension Standard Time: [11:30] January 27th, 19XX

Location: [Vigeon - Colosseum]

After Karen and Lilica enjoyed a surprisingly peaceful sleep in the castle, the pair woke up at first light with the plan to go to the colosseum to get Karen ready for a confrontation with either a Deity or Thraaklon, the former being done when Lilica borrowed a set of armor fit for a Legionaire even though she had no means of fitting into it since she has a slim build compared to the bulkiness of the armor and the traditional sword in addition to its heavy weight but as a means of enhancing her strength, she drew upon the strength of her Tail Gear to transform into Tail Blue to make herself strong enough to move with such bulky armor, while using her regular form to help train against agile opponents in the latter scenario, while she 'lost' her power as a Parthenian, she is still exceptionally fast because of her life-long training back among her people and the diverse skills she acquired from those within Arcadia though along the way to the colosseum, they happened to notice Twoearle's shuttle parked in a small clearing within the city with a number of Jermafensers transporting materials to and from a quarry Karen and Lilica saw in the nearby mountain and three pyromancers and aquamancers using their fire and water magic to melt and mold metal onto the shuttle per Twoearle's and Klumse's directions to help repair the damaged vehicle with a Darknut wearing black armor similar to the legionaires but far more ornate, his name being revealed as Senturon when he spoke with the two women, admitting that he was very much interested in the technology they possessed, finding it similar to legends of the 'Wind Tribe' from his world in premise at the very least since they had access to rather powerful magic which has some similarities in general appearance to Twoearle's replication tech.

When the time for Karen's match nearly arrived, she was called by Thraaklon to meet him in a corridor outside the main arena

"Well Karen, you have to make a choice. Either kill a Deity or fight me for an hour."

"But is it even honorable to fight you considering I damaged your hands yesterday?"

"Hah, you think I'm helpless just because my hands are burnt? I'm a millennia-old warrior, in fact, I was able to kill two of the Jermafensers and a death wizard with my feet alone. Whatever you choose, you're going to have a difficult challenge if you want to pass the trial of Idolatry."

"Then I...Thraaklon, I need to confess. I would rather fight against you since my condition is simply surviving for an hour. I'm...rather averse against killing people, it makes me feel incredibly nauseous."

After listening to Karen's rather somber confession regarding her disfavor toward serious fighting that involves killing, Thraaklon simply stepped forward and put a single hand on her shoulder, her looking upward in mild confusion

"Trust me kid, there are hundreds if not thousands of warriors who genuinely fear killing others. It's one thing to simply fight an opponent in a spar, but fighting to the death is on a whole new level. Furthermore, everyone fears killing to some extent, it's what makes us living beings. Despite my warrior upbringing, even I fear killing others since it's one of the biggest things that tears families apart. We fear having to end the life of others. Many are able to train their endurance for these matters, but most are unable to truly banish those fears and you really shouldn't. If you wish Karen, I can help you face these fears, but it requires you meeting me halfway."

"I...I appreciate it. But like I said, I would rather have to fight you since I simply have to survive you for an hour. Though I feel like even lasting half an hour would impress the Darknuts to an extent since you said you killed fifteen in that time span."

"Perhaps, but let us not take any gambles in this. Cerise Heart already has the support in the Wizzrobes since they've swore loyalty to her while they're in this world but the Darknuts are a stubborn bunch with their loyalties. They allied themselves with me only because I demonstrated superior strength, but I genuinely want to pass on the torch and have them cut me some damn slack. Doing so requires me to have them find a strong enough warrior to surpass me as a god. Hence the need for the Trial of Idolatry. Well, let's get to it. We have a lot of Darknuts to impress, and a fellow beastman to discredit."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [12:15] January 27th, 19XX

Location: [Vigeon - Colosseum]

After pondering what Thraaklon said to her and knowing that the time has come to fight, Karen silently activated her launcher as she walked, her transformation being finished when she exited the tunnel, dismissing her wings since she doesn't want to use flight and found herself in the same colosseum field she used to train with Lilica, this time filled with people watching the match with ardent fervor; Karen seeing that the leaders of this settlement: Senturon, Lana, Nostrum, Celina, and Thraaklon have sat themselves in box seats standing tall over the other viewers in the colosseum

"The die has been cast Console Patron Unit. If you wish to gain our favor, you must kill one of our deities or survive a full hour against the newest individual who passed the trial of Idolatry: Thraaklon here. You have five minutes to decide, and if you do not choose within the time we give, we will choose for you."

"No need for that Senturon, my choice has already been etched into my mind. If I'm to undergo this Idolatry test, I might as well go for broke. Thraaklon! I'm going to dethrone you in the eyes of each and every Darknut here!" When Karen made her bold declaration and pointed at Thraaklon directly, the roar of surprise rung out all around the arena and all eyes fell to him.

"Well, I can hardly refuse a challenge since you're making me appear an utter fool in front of my people." Despite his calm choice of words, Thraaklon pretended to be rather irritated at Karen's proclamation as he leapt from his seat toward the arena below him, landing and jumping on several Legionnaires' heads along the way as he placed himself in the opposite end of the arena "Hope you're ready to pay for your transgressions against me CPU."

Dashing into battle, Thraaklon immediately charged toward Karen with a clear desire to fight with nothing held back as he started with a spiral jump and downwards kick toward the ground as Karen barely dodged the attack with a sidewards dash which had enough force to create a crater, with only seconds worth of timing between her evasion and his attack, though he was not willing to relent as he immediately changed direction to face her and once again dashed toward Karen, though she was very much prepared this time as she moved herself to spin in a 360' circle with her sword screeching against the concrete of the ground as she dragged it upward, catching Thraaklon off-guard as she pulled off a successful slash sending him into the air but moments afterward when he would've retaliated, the sound of earth being crashed into rung out around the arena as Senturon immediately stepped forward from his seat where he was watching the, admittedly short, battle play out.

"What the hell is going on out there?! I want an Aeromancer up on the ramparts immediately! Figure out what is going on!"

Deciding to put the battle on hold as the lone Aeromancer hovered to the ramparts above the colosseum, stared at the fields for a single moment and turned toward Senturon "There are unknown monsters at the gates! They're...They're indescribable, but they're trying to pierce through and climbing the walls! Our garrisoned forces are fleeing!"

The revelation of monsters immediately caused a panic but was swiftly stifled by Senturon "All forces, prep for immediate combat! We are not going to let any filthy monsters claim our city. Darknuts, prepare for war and drive these beasts out!" He then turned around to face his Wizzrobe companions "Lana, take Cerise Heart back to the castle and then return to lead your Hylian forces. Nostrum, get your Wizzrobes moving and support our defenses."

With these orders being given by Senturon, everyone within the colosseum began rushing out to get themselves out to fight

"Look like we have to cancel this trial Thraaklon, defending the city is more important than this Idolatry test right now." Karen was stern as she spoke, knowing that protecting the people here is more important than trying to earn status, summoning her wings and prepared for flight.

"I concur. Get out there and wreck hell, I'll be helping the Darknuts on the ground."

* * *

Karen simply flashed a confident smile as she took off into the sky, finding creatures she could only describe as fitting of the author: H. P. Lovecraft both on the ground already having broken through the gates and soaring through the skies and sees some partial resistance already forming among the Darknuts as hoplites, peltasts, Fokka hypaspists, and even a handful of Legionnaires, Mazura, Lynel, and Hylian acolytes are quickly charging into the fray though she quickly soared to protect the largest concentration of allied forces as one of the aerial monsters attempted to dive bomb them, cutting through the beast with surprising ease though it quickly coated her face and upper torso with onyx black colored blood

"Ugh, disgusting." In addition to her distaste for the fact she is covered in blood, she suddenly felt her body tinge and her wings begin to fail her as she fell to the ground and experiencing the feeling of challenge to even rise "What the…? That blood...Everyone, don't let that blood touch your skin! It drains your strength!"

As she continued feeling her strength being drained from the poisonous blood, she borne witness to the battle around her, the fighters putting up a valiant defense with their swords and other such melee oriented weapons but when the critical moment where her strength would've been dissipated, her HDD was deactivated and felt impulses ring out throughout her body

' _Your power as Console Patron Unit is insufficient to fight these otherworldly beings. Your inability to access shares from the Hyper dimension is limiting your strength, even with this dimension's special quality of allowing any CPU to transform with the smallest of power. But I am different._ '

' _Who are you? How are you able to speak in my mind?_ '

' _I am a part of you as Aqua Heart is to Caelus. You can call me Console Patron Unit Crimson Heart, a manifestation of your own personality created through the CPU Memory you used alongside Aqua Heart, whom was recreated through Caelus' will. Summon me and we will defeat these beasts._ '

' _And how exactly do I do it Crimson Heart? This CPU Memory only lets me transform into Aqua Heart._ '

' _That is because you are using the base level transformation for Hard Drive Divinity; calling upon me requires the next level of transformation subconsciously created by Gamindustri as a whole as a means of combating the monster evolution. Call out the incantation: Maximize Access and it'll unlock what I will call Mega Drive Divinity. It'll create a seal over Aqua Heart, and by some extension: Caelus herself, and allow me to manifest since only one form can be active at a time. Don't worry though, neither will be erased, simply in limbo. Hurry, people are in danger. Once you activate your MDD, you'll become immune to the poison since I have studied it when you were exposed to it._ '

With a mental nod, Karen pulled herself up as she moved her arm up into the sky "Okay, let's see what this one is capable of. Maximize Access!"

* * *

After she spoke the incantation, she saw the previous CPU Memory flip revealing an unactivated dull silver CPU Memory immediately glow a fiery red and gold acting as a drastic change from the prior blue color, and just like her transformation as Aqua Heart, she is spiritually ejected from her body as she sees it glow part by part, her old clothing being replaced, first with reddish brown long gloves, immediately covered with armored gauntlets colored bronze, then the greaves covering the entirety of her legs and, to her mild surprise, a gothic lolita short dress with a small cape extending outward colored black, red, and white, with her hair being colored a dull gold and her eye color shifting to a crimson red. On her back, angel wings sprung out with different colors throughout its four layers: dark red on top of the wings, violet on the second layer, a dull pink on the third, and white on the fourth layer. In her hand, she saw the sword she had christened Raiden transform into a gunblade with a violet gemstone at the center of the sword near the trigger/guard though Karen felt herself feeling faint from the immense power emanating from the individual in front of her, even though it is still her body.

' _This is the power you possess as CPU Crimson Heart. Now let's kick some major ass before the Darknuts and Wizzrobes get killed. Let's go me._ '

The figure then immediately took into flight toward Karen, dissolving into light the moment she would've clashed against her and that light enveloped her as she quickly finds her senses returned to reality with the Darknut forces clashing against the monstrous beasts assaulting the city, one about to strike against her but is stopped when Karen drew her sword and drove it through its heart and with her hand on the trigger, she fired a bullet made of pure magic which sent the beast back into the air, exploding once it soared above the walls, waving her sword to the side to wipe the blood off of it

"Darknuts, rally behind each other and victory will be ours!" With this victory chant, Karen quickly saw the Darknuts gain morale as she flew into the sky, using her gunblade to attack the monsters in the air while the newly arrived Jermafensers, Legionnaires, and Wizzrobe forces certainly did their part in driving the enemy monsters away, though she immediately grimaced as she saw a truly gargantuan monster appear from the forest and charges toward it, knowing that if it reached the city, it'd be game over.

* * *

When she made it to the beast which stood at the edge of Agathor Forest, she was immediately stopped as it seemed to unleash some sort of paralysis magic as she was forced to stare at its overwhelming presence, noticing it carried similarities to mammoths back from her world but with a terrifying black and crimson red color scheme.

"There is much you do not understand about us human." Although its voice was gravely coarse and difficult to understand, it was enough to show that it carried human-like intelligence, giving her emotions of both surprise and fear at the prospect of such a terrifying beast having similar intelligence to her.

"You-You can talk?"

"After living a thousand years, any being would gain some semblance of intelligence over the mindless masses. I am among the most powerful of my kin but that does not represent leadership over this chaotic horde. We hunt. We pillage. We destroy. We kill. Some of our more humanoid spawn even rape, given the opportunity. You can say that I am above such barbaric acts but I would be spreading misinformation. I simply prefer waiting until the time is right. I am near indomitable but I am also an easy target for organized resistance, so I strike only when resistance has been permanently broken. In regards to names human, you may refer to me as Shimure." While the beast kept attention solely on her as it spoke, it showed a very minimal turn of its head, looking toward the city of Vigeon where barrages of multi-colored and effect magic could be seen erupted from all over the place, each blast striking and destroying one of the monsters assaulting the city "Resistance here is vast and powerful. This world is too different from our own. I will retreat into the shadows and simply observe from afar. Rest assured that I have little interest in fighting your people. But know that our paths will intersect in the future. Divine providence in the form of a cloaked figure living in-between worlds has declared it so. I was able to coerce a name out of it when I met it for a brief time: Tybalt."

With this said, a large purple magic circle appeared underneath the beast's four feet and moments later, lightning struck the field all around both her and it; the bolts making the creature disappear and Karen is sent flying from the shock wave back toward the city at such a fast speed, she ended up crashing straight into the city wall, losing consciousness as she fell to the ground.

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [22:35] January 27th, 19XX

Location: [Vigeon - Wizzrobe Magic Infirmary]

When Karen regained consciousness after her crash into the city wall, she found herself inside one of the Wizzrobe themed buildings surrounded by many Darknuts and Hylians writhing in pain on cloth beds, being attended to by pairs of Wizzrobes and her own awakening caught the attention of one of the pairs, one wearing a sky blue cloak and the other being garbed in forest green. A glance toward her gauntlet showed that the CPU Memory activated for Crimson Heart was cracked, hinting that either she wasn't ready for that kind of power or the power draw was far too great for a regular CPU Memory to hold for the 'Mega Drive Divinity' Crimson Heart mentioned

' _How in the world am I supposed to use this hidden facet in my power if it burns out the CPU Memory I use in the process? Am I supposed to be constantly finding these memories and just use one at a time, battle by battle? Or is there some way to create a reinforced CPU Memory? More importantly, just how common or rare are these bloody things in this dimension? I overheard Caelus, Histoire, and the other CPUs mention once or twice that CPU Memories were extinct in that day and age...wait, then how did Croire get the one that awakened Aqua Heart when I was dying from the Guardragon venom? Does she have some dimensional travel magic? Wait, lower priority right now. I should go talk with Cerise or Thraaklon at my earliest convenience and ask them how frequently or rarely they found CPU Memories in their lives._ '

"The newcomer has awakened from her injuries. Go find Lord Senturon and Nostrum and inform him that she's back among us. Her companions will want to know as well, so pass the news through the Hoplite guards and have them come here if they possess the capability." After seeing the wizzrobe in green leave, Karen saw the other crouch down to his knees and sat next to her "Take it slow young goddess, you must have expended a great amount of power to take down the behemoth our scouts saw at the edge of Agathor Forest."

"Huh…?" Karen felt confused for a brief moment before recalling her encounter with the beast outside town. Its presence was abnormal and had magnitude bar none she had ever encountered in her, still short by many's definition, life and while it appeared benign, even it admitted it was still a malevolent being, just a passive one and further said that the beast would meet her again since this mysterious being Karen has heard of several times: Tybalt declared it 'divine providence' ' _Shouldn't I tell them that I didn't exactly kill the beast? He...did he use that magic circle to teleport to...where DID it go? All it said was that it was going to hide in the darkness and observe. Well, it did say it had no interest in fighting the Darknuts and Wizzrobes and if we're at peace like this, the monsters must've been exterminated. I don't like taking the easy route like this but I also don't want to make an enemy out of these two factions. If I'm going to find Neptune and more importantly, a way back to Arcadia, I need support from people living in this world, even if they're not exactly native to begin with. Particularly when it comes to food since Lilica and anyone else I recruit will inevitably need these things. I need to keep reminding myself not to draw that line of detachment because of my power as goddess. Wait, I just remembered! That beast said it had met this Tybalt person, whoever he is. Okay, what the hell is going on here? Why is he so interested in shaping history? But if anything, I know he somehow is living in-between worlds now._ ' Knowing that she has to shake the thought from her mind quickly, Karen shifted her gaze about the room before looking back toward the Wizzrobe next to her, wanting to create the impression that she's locked in meditation, an activity that's been becoming increasingly common in her daily routines "Oh yeah, sorry. I've been prone to succumbing to bouts of meditation like this. But look, while I do appreciate your concern, I have business with Cerise Heart that cannot be delayed. If they come here, could you let my friends know I am headed to the castle?"

As the Wizzrobe saw Karen get up from her bed and walk away, he responded simply "As you desire."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [23:30] January 27th, 19XX

Location: [Vigeon - Castle Yaranoxal]

After departing the infirmary, Karen walked through the city and entered the castle, quickly finding Cerise's room after having been brought to it once before the day before, and when she opened the door, she noticed that Cerise twitched her eyebrows and looked in Karen's direction

"Lana? Wait no... you're the newcomer who fought against Thraaklon."

"You can tell who I am so easily, even when your sight is cataracted Cerise Heart? Have to admit that's impressive."

"I simply don't need eyesight to see is all. Yes, I am in a position where I cannot tell what anyone looks like, but I can combine a person's physical build, their voice, and the aura they emanate to identify people. I'm not exactly able to make this work out among crowds because of how many people I am surrounded by but in very small groups or among lone individuals, I can tell who people are, even if they appear to be nothing more than shadowy textures with colored outlines. Thraaklon has always been something of an exception for me. I'm actually able to plant a detailed description in my sight."

"Oh, and why is that exactly?"

"He was around in my life before I lost my sight and my mind is able to trick out modifying my usual perception of things around me. That and...I suppose you can say I'm suffering a guilt complex. Not only did I give him that scar near his eye when I was that little girl terrified and near drowning in that lake, I almost killed my foster brother and sister with one of my tricks I learned from my world. Those two events made me give up any and all interest in fighting, to the point where it terrifies me now."

"Oh, sorry to make you remember that Cerise Heart."

After hearing Karen's honest admittance, Cerise simply gave a weak smile in her direction

"Don't worry about that; these things happened centuries ago. Although I do let myself delve into this sentimentality sometimes, I've forgiven myself to an extent since they're no longer with us. It's not exactly healthy to let issues that precede one's natural lifespan fester. But that's not an excuse to forget it. Can I help you with something?"

"Oh. Yeah, right. Almost forgot. Cerise, considering you seem to be a major ruler, if not the primary one, among this city; I need to ask you for a favor."

"I'm not exactly much of a ruler but I can try to oblige whatever request you need. Speak your mind."

"First of all, the hospitality you guys have shown me is much appreciated and I'm thankful for it. But I have business that has to be completed as soon as humanly possible. Mostly the matter of me finding my last...friend I guess you could call her. I have no idea where she is unfortunately. She's nowhere around here, I know that mu-" Before Karen finished speaking, she witnessed a beam of purple and black light appear from the far east and when she hovered her gauntlet arm in front of it, a line of text appeared in the screen ' _CPU Memory activation recognized._ ' "CPU Memories...Cerise Heart, is there any landmass to the east of here? I just saw two beams of light emanating from CPU Memory activations."

"East...east. Erm, yeah, there's two continents in that direction. I used to live there centuries ago before Thraaklon moved the two of us here. I don't know if they still have the same names, but they were once called Bresari and Viocor. Bresari greatly outsizes Viocor's island continent size but in terms of habitability, they hardly differed; though Bresari's northern territory had some arguably inhospitable polar regions. But if you want to leave this continent, you'll need Thraaklon and I to assist you. We installed a powerful security system in the artificial island: Imuth. The system creates powerful whirlpools and storms whenever someone attempts to enter or leave the radius of those two continents. It makes all sea and air transportation in or out impossible."

"Why exactly would you two do such a thing?"

"I'm...I'm not at liberty to say. All I can say is that it's for everyone's safety. This entire world has varying levels of civilization which exists largely because of this barrier. But if you need to go there, I suppose we'll need to shut it down so you can get through. There is another problem to this however."

"Oh, this is going to be rich, I just know it."

"Yeah um...we lack seaworthy vessels since the system worked on us as well. It trashed our ship and we've been stuck here ever since. It was self-imposed granted since we could just build a ship further inland along a coast and depart from there, but still stuck. We won't be able to go anywhere until we get a ship built, and that alone could take nearly a month or even longer."

"What about Twoearle's shuttle? I hear repairs are going well and I think it should be able to traverse the ocean."

"Even if it can get us there, there's no chance of reaching the continent until the barrier is gone."

"Got it. I'll go find Senturon and Nostrum and ask them to establish round-the-clock shifts until we can get the shuttle repaired. Though if that gets denied, I'll just do it myself."

"Finding me is unnecessary Console Patron Unit, or rather, our newest idol."

"Senturon! What are you doing here?"

"Do I even have to say? Celebrations are in order since you killed that behemoth. It would've exterminated us given the chance."

"I appreciate the gesture Senturon, but I have urgent business that must be fulfilled. I don't have time for any kind of celebration."

"That's even more reason. It is best to celebrate during the calm before the storm and with our victory over these horrific monsters, we need to give our people due festivities. It will be held tomorrow at daybreak. And regarding your plans with the shuttle, some of our more able-bodied Jermafensers and Wizzrobe pyro and aquamancers expressed desire to see the shuttle in the plaza fully repaired, so I'll assign them to you for the time being since you want the same thing we do. They're willing to work throughout the night just like you. You're our newest idol and deserving of some privilege."

"I genuinely appreciate the generosity Senturon. I'll take any help I can get in this regard. If there is nothing else, I should get moving." After saying this, Karen waited a brief moment, where she was met with a simple shake of Senturon's head, indicating that his need to speak with her has reached its end, giving her a polite means of leaving the room.

* * *

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 8 - Karen & Lilica

During the trek back to Twoearle's shuttle, Karen quickly saw Lilica talking with some of the Darknut Hoplites and Fokka but her curiosity on what the conversation was quickly turned to horror when she saw their spears and swords drawn and battle quickly brewing between Lilica and the Darknuts, making Karen draw her own sword and leapt into the battle, intercepting a blow from one of the Fokka that had almost hit Lilica

"Like hell I'm going to let you kill my friend!"

"W-Woah, what in the name of the Legion is going on?!"

"K-Karen, relax! We're just sparring and testing our skill!"

"Huh? A spar?"

"Yeah, so sheathe your sword and give me a moment to explain what is going on!" Lilica's expression was on a level beyond panicked, only vanishing when Karen's sword was sheathed, a deep sigh of relief following suite, as she turned to face the Darknuts "Sorry about that you guys, I should've sent a runner to let Lady Aqua Heart here know I wanted to see how skilled some of the best in the guard were."

"It was...exhilarating to say the least. Nothing gets a warrior's blood pumping than a contender jumping in from out of nowhere. Before now, we have been in a dull decline for nearly a year. It's good to get our reflexes pushed to the limit and give our recruits some battle experience. Especially when we have an army of giant spiders to fight in the unforeseen future. It's pretty late though, any chance we can postpone our spar? We all are eager to see how strong you are Lilica Teken."

"We'll see you guys. I just don't know how long we're staying, we do have business elsewhere. That light we saw far to the east is likely linked to a person we're trying to find."

A sad collection of groans followed Lilica's own admittedly sad confession of how she is likely to leave soon, followed by the Darknuts leaving, leaving Karen and Lilica by themselves

"I apologize for my misconduct here Lady Aqua Heart. I should've acted with more tact and tried to warn you."

"Lilica relax. You don't need to apologize over a misunderstanding _I_ caused. This has just been a crazy couple of days, for us both. I'm just glad you're getting along with the Darknuts here. Especially since you would always keep to yourself back in Arcadia. This is the first time I've seen you genuinely happy since I've met you. Trust me, I know when people put up masks."

"Maybe you're right. As prosperous as Arcadia is and all, it can't compare to Parthenia in some ways. As barbaric as our culture can be, it's still refined and embraced around our warriors, quirks and all."

"Er, you do know that your country still practices slavery right? That's as barbaric as it comes."

"Cut us some slack, we keep regulations on that. Valco was bottom of the barrel, since he was a jackass and repeated his crimes when we expressed our disdain for his behavior. Our other slave owners actually care for their charges. Don't judge us by our worst. Remember that we had him killed for his actions. Also recall that we had zero qualms letting a foreigner take one of our slaves."

"I guess...how did we come from talking about the situation at hand to matters five years old? It had been that long since I first visited Parthenia."

"Beats me, just happened. Where were you going anyway Lady Aqua Heart?"

"Twoearle's shuttle. We need to get it operational ASAP and get ready to leave. I have a feeling I know where Neptune is."

"Oh. Good. The sooner we can find Lady Neptune, the sooner we can concentrate on getting back home. I'll...I'll go requisition some food from the Wizzrobes. Who knows how long we'll be at sea and we need provisions. After that, I'll go get some sleep."

After seeing Lilica dash in the direction of the castle, since the aeroponic conservatories are kept underneath it, Karen couldn't help but notice just how forced her eagerness was. While she believes that there is likely was some at the prospect of returning to their home, Karen also believed that once again, she is forcing herself to appear energetic

' _Hm, I wonder if Lisalon and the others feel the same as her? Particularly since they don't talk about it. When things calm down, I'm going to suggest that they all take a sabbatical and return to Parthenia. They must be home-sick after all this time, basically stranded in Arcadia. But that's all moot at present. Maybe I can arrange to have some sort of 'temple' built to suit Parthenian architecture and environment when I return and after their sabbatical. Something to give them a taste of home while they're in Arcadia. More importantly, at present, I wouldn't be able to avoid the feeling that I'm an utter bitch if I drag Lilica away from here. Well, at least I know what I have to do in that regard._ '

* * *

Return to story

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [12:00] January 28th, 19XX

Location: [Vigeon - Twoearle's Shuttle]

After spending the night working with the Darknuts and Wizzrobes, Karen smiled at the shuttle's completed exterior, knowing that she can now depart for Imuth whenever she wishes, though the matter of fuel was initially a concern but Thraaklon's arrival on the worksite proved a surprising support since he jury rigged a magic converter and attached it to the shuttle, with Cerise Heart, Karen, and three Aero and Aquamancers combining their magic to fill the shuttle with sufficient fuel the journey according to Twoearle's and Klumse's projections and preparations are already beginning to form as the Darknuts are working at transporting plenty of fruit from the Wizzrobe conservatories alongside Lilica and not long after preparations were finished, the time for the festival began which was enjoyed by all of its participants even though the newcomers of Karen, Lilica, and Twoearle's group all had their own share of uneasiness, for different reasons.

When the festival had reached its end, Karen, Lilica, Klumse, Cerise Heart, Thraaklon, and Nostrum met outside Twoearle's repaired shuttle as they each inspected parts of it, save Cerise who simply stayed put near the shuttle's loading ramp and reunited outside the same ramp

"Well, this shuttle appears repaired based on what we can see out here. The interior is likely still trashed but we can still use it with the right technical skill. As powerful as AIs can be, nothing can beat an organic technician and there's few who can rival my skill as an engineer. Tell me Klumse, considering you mentioned you have an engineering background too, are you more geared toward civilian or military?"

"Civilian. Aside from the upgrades I made to the Tail Gear and her companions to remove the need for elemental affinity, I don't like making weapons."

"That's where we differ I suppose Klumse. But this works in our favor to some extent. I'll handle offense tech we'll deploy in the field and you handle more mundane tasks. Tell me, I get you may not like making weapons, but what about shields? Armor? Things of a defensive nature?"

"Mmm...I guess that would be okay. I just don't want to make weapons."

"Fair enough. Let's get going. Here, stay close to me Cerise. We're going onboard the shuttle."

After Thraaklon spoke this, he gently gripped Cerise Heart's hand and pulled her on-board the shuttle, quickly followed by Klumse, leaving Karen and Lilica remaining among the group planning for the departure, though when Lilica attempted to board, she was stopped by Karen in the process

"Huh? Why are you not letting me board Lady Aqua Heart? Don't we need to find Lady Purple Heart?"

"Yeah, about that...I'm dismissing you from my service until further notice."

"H-HUH?! W-What have I done to deserve this?!"

"Relax Lilica, this is not a punishment. Look, I'm dismissing you because I can easily tell this is something you need. You and the others from Parthenia been living in Arcadia for half a decade and I can tell that you at the very least have been faking your enthusiasm. It's easy to tell this is the first time you've been genuinely happy ever since you departed Parthenia. I refuse to tear you away for the time being. So until I call for you, you are to remain here. Furthermore, there is one other matter I'd like you to investigate if possible."

"What...would that be Lady Aqua Heart?"

"It's the matter of the Parthenian Knights in this world. Something about it confounds me. You said you were unable to contact them yet they do exist in this world since Thraaklon confirmed it. I want you to find them and figure out the specifics of how they operate in this dimension. I talked with Thraaklon about it briefly on the way here to Vigeon and the shaman's family lives in the same area where Bae'lin and the others do in our dimension, so go there and speak with them about gaining access to their territory."

"I see. Yeah, if we could uncover the hidden Parthenian Knights in this dimension, their aid could be significant to our cause. The thought of two versions of our mighty order working together could pose an unstoppable force dedicated to fighting the monsters. I understand. I'll get to work on this immediately. Well...after my plans with my new friends here. Best of luck trying to find Lady Purple Heart, Lady Aqua Heart."

"Same to you my knight. And here's hoping you'll drop the formality when next we meet."

"Heh, we'll see."

* * *

With this final exchange of words, Karen and Lilica shake their hands and turn away from each other, Karen walking into the shuttle while Lilica walked toward the city center; Karen losing sight as the boarding ramp rose to close off the shuttle's interior from the outside world, making her look around the bronze red tinted walls which give off a homey feeling to her, though all of the ruined foreign technology did introduce a mild unease, especially with the flickering lights indicating that repairs are far from finished though Karen quickly fell to the ground as she heard the engine powering up, especially the sensation of a hop, likely done to leap over the walls. Moments later, she sees an arm extend in her direction, looking up to see Klumse standing above her

"You doing alright goddess?"

With a small smile, Karen gripped Klumse's hand and pulled herself up "Could be better."

"Yeah, sorry. The shock absorber is offline so you're facing the full impact of this travel here. Unfortunately that's being marked as low priority so you're going to have to manage without it for a while now. But if you need a stable place to be, I can only really recommend the cargo bay over there right now. The walls and floor are reinforced so the shockwave won't exactly be strong there."

"I see. Say, is there anything in that room at present?"

"At present? Aside from dehydrated military-grade provisions kept in a few crates magnetically locked to the floor, no. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Have someone notify me when we make it to Imuth. I'm out of shape."

With a simple wave of her hand, Karen walked into the nearby cargo bay specified by Klumse, finding all of the sensations from outside immediately cease, giving Karen a great deal of relief as she silently began to walk about the room, scanning the walls with a prototype augmented reality system designed as another joint venture between Arcadia and Parthenia, the latter requesting something of the sort as another measure to help train their knights particularly with how they're being contracted to help fight the monsters that would be evolving within five years time. The feature allows for the creation of phantom entities exclusive to the users which are designed to act organic in their behavioral patterns, yet operate in a controlled field. Though the 'issue' of the reality in augmented reality has caused concern as pain is fully registered to the user(s), though it's not enough to cause severe injury, who use this prototype system, so access to it has been restricted to the Parthenian Knights though Karen arranged the creation of a backdoor program for her exclusive use, on the condition of her subjecting herself to medical examinations whenever she uses the program since the Parthenians have reported that they have had to hospitalize several of their people after use of the AR system, though the number has been sharply declining as they're becoming more accustomed to the system and fighting in groups. Karen does muse that perhaps it would be better to get Thraaklon to help her in this regard since he is a skilled fighter but figures that he's on the bridge and wouldn't be able to get away to help her train, so she'll work solo.

After she finished her scan, she activates the enemy spawn feature of the AR system, encasing the environment with a blue and black color, and from the walls, shadowy entities resembling ninjas, as that was the setting she kept as a template, begin to emerge and surround her with shikomizues in their hands, kept in a backward style

"Okay, time to see how much my skill has degraded over the last month."

Karen sighed in discontent as she drew her sword, feeling the weight bearing down on her, a clear sign that her combat condition has declined but she refuses to back down as she tightens her stance as the nearest enemy jumped into battle, quickly meeting the strike with her sword to block the attack and retaliating with a sideward slash, destroying it in a single moment with a burst of dust following suite, but while her focus was trained on the enemy in front of her, one of the others leapt into action, thrusting its sword through her stomach, making her immediately stiffen in shock, and when it withdrew it, she slowly fell to her knees and began to cough up a short amount of blood, a surprisingly common side-effect to exposure to the AR system, with it continuing with a small river flowing down her mouth and even eyes

"Ugh. This is as lethal as ever. And without a medic...dammit. I thought repeated exposure was supposed to lessen the effect of this! It's even deadlier than ever before."

* * *

This was all she was able to say before passing out from the pain of the AR system and what she experienced within it, with it designed to shut down when the user(s) experience this, hearing the VI within it giving a single report 'Battle data recorded and uploaded to server.', which is a built-in feature meant to upload any and all experiences the user(s)' experience, which is done to improve the organic nature of the system, but felt a calming energy envelop her after what feels to be mere moments; awakening to see Celina sitting next to her; her face bloodied yet strangely unscathed despite the blood

"Nya...this pain...it's...it really is a piece of work. I haven't experienced such exquisite pain in a long time. Thraaklon would always try sheltering me, but I sometimes...experiment in secret and deliberately harm myself just to give myself a boost. I've even asked a couple of pyromancers and electromancers to use their magic on me...goddess...being set on fire and electrocuted...nyaaa~."

' _Okay, this woman is DEFINITELY Celina Netzen. Both terrify the freaking hell out of me with their sadomasochistic tendencies, but this one feels worse! It's one thing to simply get off with wordplay, but this woman actually has been attacked and hurt, to the point of self-mutilation, yet finds a sick sense of pleasure in it! What the hell is wrong with this chick?! I have no idea if I even want to maintain association with her if she acts like this regularly._ ' Karen was mortified at Celina's words and internally answered with disgust but kept her external expression calm and looked toward her healer "You have my thanks, but how did you find me?"

"I smelled blood and went to find its source. I may be blind, but that doesn't mean I can't see. Considering that Thraaklon and Klumse are on the bridge, and Twoearle and the others don't exactly have blood in their veins, it could only be you Aqua Heart."

"That's actually kind of impressive. Do you have the gift of echolocation or something?"

"Um, not exactly sure what that word means. How do I put it? I guess you can say it is something akin to a magic compass. I can unleash impulses of magic at will to give me a brief silhouette of my surroundings. But using it in quick succession has always left me weary so I tend to ask Thraaklon or someone I trust to stay close to me so I have their sight to guide me around. It does give the image that I am far too dependent on others, but it is simply more convenient. In fairness, I know I barely know you and all, but I like to consider you among that short list."

"Why? Like you said, you don't even know me. Why consider me someone you trust?"

"You're a goddess like I am. I'm not sure how it works in your world, but in this one, it basically creates a sisterly bond between us, though the extent of that bond differs from person to person. As close as Thraaklon is to me, I only really think of him as a father figure, and with the Wizzrobes...they're a little too fanatical and worship me as some sort of ultimate being with unparalleled power. I may be a goddess and immortal and all, but the amount of 'godly power' I possess is practically minimal. Honestly, I'm kind of glad to meet someone who won't automatically label me with what I've experienced. A chance to be considered normal."

"Oh. I wasn't exactly aware that you had gone through that. If it's you want me to do, I'll ignore the whole goddess thing to the best of my ability. It may actually be easier if you disengage your HDD...is that possible?"

"Yeah, it's possible, but the thing is...I actually lost the CPU Memory that turned me into a goddess about a century ago. Without it, I can't switch between my human and goddess forms."

"Wait, so you need access to your CPU Memory to activate and deactivate HDD?" ' _I'm guessing that a CPU Memory's destruction forces a deactivation of Hard Drive Divinity, so if my theory's right; her CPU Memory is still intact, just...lost. So mine being destroyed severed my connection to Crimson Heart? I'm hoping she still exists, since she is a part of my psyche as much as Aqua Heart was to some extent. I don't want to have to reconstruct the profile of HDD every time I burn out a memory. It'll become heartrending after a while, knowing that I'm intentionally killing a part of me._ ' "I actually just remembered something I wanted to ask you about that. I want to ask, are CPU Memories rare or common in this dimension?"

"I'd say rare. There are surefire places where you can find them; my old home on Keisa being one of them, but they spawn rather erratically. Each one spawns one maybe...every century or so? It's impossible to tell since there's no set time on the spawn rate. They're not that well-studied since very few people actually want to become a Console Patron Unit. Either way, I've built up a small stockpile of, let me remember. Oh yeah, five memories during my time on Keisa."

"I don't get it. You're already a goddess, so why would you gather more memories?" ' _I'm not complaining mind you. If she is willing to let me use them I can regain access to Crimson Heart, but at the same time, they burn out too quickly. I'd deplete her stores too quickly and considering she said that they're rare to spawn, I don't want to treat such valuable items as a cheap power-up. They deserve to be used by those who could use their power in a long-term way. Hm, I wonder if it'd be possible to merge the Tail Gear with CPU Memories to boost the strength of their chosen warriors. What would I consider such a fusion? Twin-tail Divinity or something? Uh...now that I say it, it sounds a bit dumb. Urg, I thought I struck gold after I gave Elizalla her name. I'll talk with Thraaklon and Celina about names later_.'

"Well; why not? They're not going to be of help to anyone if I simply leave them be in the middle of nowhere."

"Fair enough logic I suppose. Here, let me clean up the blood so you don't freak out Klumse or Thraaklon. Leonard taught me some water magic and I make it a habit to keep clean rags in my inventory."

As she pulls herself up, she opened her inventory to take out a small pink cloth rag, using a weak water spell to make it moist and began gently wiping off the blood that's on Celina's face, making sure that she removed every bit of it and couldn't help but slightly smile as Celina instinctively resisted like a child but did not fight her and even noticed her tail rising toward the ceiling though she noticed Celina was clearly trying to fight it down, all this ending when Karen finished, and moments later, Thraaklon's voice rang out through the intercom "We've arrived at Imuth. Get ready to disembark cause we have to move fast! The system's malfunctioning and there's a deadly storm imbued with supercharged radiation on route, eta one hour, maybe two! Worst case scenario, we set this place to go volatile and take it all down in a burst of fire and run the hell away! It'll still take down the network allowing us to pass through, but I still prefer keeping this online just in case. I'm the only one who knows the system inside and out so I'm needed to work the controls, but it's likely that we'll need power from the grid so Karen, take Celina and concentrate your magic power to give me enough juice; just head to the green dome and the power generator's panel will be in front of the generator. Klumse, stay here and keep the shuttle hot. If we need a fast escape, I need you at the ready to get us outside the storm's range."

While Karen held some degree of bliss with the later ends of her conversation with Celina, primarily anything that didn't set her off with her masochism, her enthusiasm faded as she looked toward Celina, who also looks as stern as she does "We had better hurry. I don't exactly want to get myself killed. Here, I'll act as your guide. Hold out your hand and I'll bring you to the dome."

"Okay."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [21:00] January 28th, 19XX

Location: [Artificial Island Imuth]

After exiting the shuttle, exposing Karen to the beauty of the chrome silver environment of the artificial island which are near blinding with the sun reflecting its bright yellow colors upon them, only being spared this fate by quickly putting on the sunglasses given to her by Miyo nearly two weeks ago, almost immediately getting shoved aside as Thraaklon charged toward one of the smaller buildings to her left, presumably where the controls are, and when she glances to the right, she catches the sight of a green colored roof above one of the nearby domes to her right which Thraaklon specified

"This way Cel. Keep a grip on my hand, we need to move fast."

"I know; we need to get the power grid back online. But thing is, I don't need help here. I left a few spells in its construction that constantly gives off those echolocation things you talked about. At least, I presume that's what it is. It emanates energy which allows me to see. I can explain later. Let's hurry!"

Karen simply nodded in acknowledgement as she followed Celina's lead toward the green dome in the distance, seeing a large black and indigo colored cloud not too far in the distance, her obviously suspecting it's the radiation storm Thraaklon informed them all of back on the shuttle, and when the pair entered the green dome, they found a computer console next to a chair which is connected to a number of cords littering about the room, all leading to a large power generator behind a reinforced glass window installed into titanium walls.

"I've never liked this system, but I don't exactly have the right to complain this time round. Thraaklon made this simple to use in your case. Just press a hand against the console and it'll absorb magic from your body enough to jumpstart the means to reactivate the primary generator. Well, _this_ is going to be pleasant for me."

With a mild frown, Celina walked toward the chair and sat down as Karen hurried toward the console, pressing her hand against one of the round buttons as it quickly entrapped said hand as she felt the energy of her HDD being drained and a liquefied manifestation of share energy through the cords

"AHHHHH!" The process of this system draining share energy was beyond painful as it felt like Karen was having her soul torn apart since her HDD has long since been a part of her and although she has undergone proper treatment following her meeting the Parthenians so she was finally able to live without Caelus' intervention, she is still in a weak condition since her body is undergoing a very slow recovery process despite the occasional reinforcement magic she had Bae'lin cast on her, to her confusion, since she has been told that extensive medical treatment would've ruined her organs. It also did not help that Karen witnessed the bright blue CPU Memory that represented Aqua Heart's existence slowly dim in color, same with her own skin "C...Cel...this is...killing me. It's taking too much power…!"

"The system must have deteriorated because of how long it had been left inactive!" Celina had an expression full of fright as she extended her arm in Karen's direction, unleashing a burst of magic against the restraint her hand was kept in, but unfortunately it was her left arm trapped, since she had been training herself to use her left hand when she's right handed after losing it to Magic years ago, and the impact tore through the bone in her arm, severing it from her body much like how CFW Magic's scythe tore through her right arm and the blast sent her flying toward the wall, making her scream out of agony from losing another limb, knowing that until she can get Miyo or an engineer she trusts to craft her a new mechanical arm since, strangely, her DNA is incompatible with Arcadia's medical technology, namely their stem cell research which would allow for organ and even limb generation within days grown in their sterilized labs, though Karen mused that her status as a goddess likely rewrote her genetic structure to make it drastically different from normal humans', she is going to be unable to do anything that requires two arms ' _DAMMIT! WHY DOES THIS DAMN WORLD HATE ME?! HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT ME FROM ME DAMN IT?! First there's the fact my friends and I are stranded in Gamindustri, I all but die my first day in this world, I get infected with a deadly neurotoxin that had nearly killed me, CFW Magic severed my right arm which made me need this robotic replacement, I nearly had my spine shattered by Paraskevas, Evart was pretty damn close to killing me more than I'd like, Selles would've easily done so if I ticked him off, and now this garbage! Why the fuck is this world so determined to kill me?!_ ' Normally Karen was the type to act with more tact and reservation, this was the final straw for her and she had every intention of screaming in anger, though her status demanded she remain silent and only voice these grievances in her mind, finding Caelus not talking to her being both relieving (since she wants peace and quiet in this matter) and concerning (since she hasn't heard from Caelus once since her Crimson Heart persona was awakened).

"Oh goddess, I'm sorry! I was aiming for the restraint, not your arm!" Although Celina was blind, Karen suspected that, combined with her knowledge of the systems and the loud sound Karen made when she hit the wall, she knew that her magic hit her arm

"It's...It's okay. I've been wounded to this extent plenty of times. An old boss of mine crafted a special cast for me when I mentioned I got hurt fairly often. It's designed to redirect my blood." Knowing that she's bleeding out, Karen quickly pulled out the cast which she stores in her gauntlet's own inventory system and attached it to cover her severed arm, it electronically adjusting itself its strap over her right arm and reconnecting around her front and back, reattaching to cover the missing arm "There we go. It'll be an absolute pain trying to do things but I've had experience in this regard. Hurry and get the system back online!"

"I know!"

After Karen heard Celina practically shout this, she quickly saw the energy taken from her being poured into the generator at the back of the room and moments later, the sight of liquidized share energy being absorbed from her body is seen, though this is the last thing she bore witness to as the impact of hitting the wall when she had so much energy drained from the machine was too much for her to handle since she was still in bad shape, making her pass out from the physical trauma.

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [23:30] January 28th, 19XX

Location: [Artificial Island Imuth - Klumse's Shuttle]

After coming to from the trauma of the impact, Karen found herself aboard Klumse's shuttle lying down on a tattered bed in the living quarters seeing her connected to what seems to be an advanced IV system connected to a nearby laptop projecting a 3d model of herself and a 3D printer which seems to be producing pills being converted into a fast-acting clotting agent being injected into her bloodstream and moments after she awoke, the peripheral was ejected, its purpose complete and her skin being surprisingly unscathed. Looking about the room, she noticed that the shuttle appeared in far worse condition than the last time she saw it, lights flickering on and off and the walls being damaged as if they underwent electronic overload and when her eyes flickered toward her gauntlet, she saw that the CPU Memory glowing with the same level of brilliance as it once did, showing it has been fully restored.

"What the heck happened here?"

With a limp, Karen walked about the shuttle, quickly finding Thraaklon and Klumse hard at work repairing the panels in the main hold, Celina lying on a tattered couch in the room, her skin as faint as hers was back in the dome where share energy was being drained from her which comprised a fairly sizeable amount of her life

"Ah you're awake goddess. That's a relief. Got good and bad news for ya. You guys got the system offline so we can head over to the mainland at any time. Unfortunately, I had to throw the shuttle into the storm to protect ya since it was right on top of us. It tore into this poor puppy severely; the engine and reactor has been destroyed outright. Thraaklon here say he could rebuild them but we're going to be stuck here a month at least, likely even more. The blast destroyed my poor droids so the two of us have to work on our own."

"Ugh...wait, Thraaklon. How far away is the continent we're aiming toward? If it's relatively close, I can just fly there."

"Based on how fast you're able to fly, about a week, maybe two if you're slow? I'm going to be dismantling parts of the tech here in Imuth and using it to restore the systems here. If you have a mission in mind, I don't blame you if you have to hurry."

"I do. I need to find the other person I came here with and find a way back to my own dimension. I need to warn my people and my allies about a crisis ongoing."

"Then go on then."

"Before you leave Goddess, I want you to take Soji, Erina, Isuna, and Twoearle. I don't need the Tail Gear to do my engineering work. Go find candidates who can represent the Twin-tails properly since you already started since that Lilica girl bonded with Aika and became the third generation Tail Blue. Of course, they need to have that special symbiosis for the power to resonate. Well, while you could pick anyone, but if they don't have the right synergy, they wouldn't be at 100%."

"Noted. Anyway, I want to sleep so I have a full recharge when I head out."

"Good idea Aqua Heart, though I've always sorta envied your whole goddess thing after living with Celina so long. We may both be ageless, but she doesn't need to eat or drink. I do. The living quarters are in shambles, but I suppose you could stay there a night. We're focusing on reconnecting the food processor to Imuth's generators so we don't have to worry about food. Anyway, when we get the shuttle working again, we'll dock at an isthmus near the mainland and set up shop there for long-term occupation. I do remember there being one in the northern reaches in a mountain encroached region in the west. Well, hopefully geography hasn't warped it in the centuries I've been in Keisa."

"Well, I guess I'll try to meet you all when you guys get the shuttle repaired and get to the mainland as I'll call it."

"Karen, if you plan on heading out before us, I want to give you the CPU Memories I've collected over the years. They'll probably serve more good with you than with me." As she spoke, Celina slowly walked Karen, walking with moderately heavy stomps to use her echolocation and presented a small jewelry case "Here you go."

After touching the case, converting it into digital form and being absorbed into her gauntlet's storage, which is linked to a special vault kept in the Arcadian Basilicom for her use, Karen realized a way she could into contact with her nation ' _Wait! That's it! I can store a message with an automatic alarm linked to an individual's computer network, it should allow me to be able to talk with my inner council! There will likely be time lags, but if I can warn them of Rei Ryghts, Arcadia and the other nations shouldn't be caught off-guard._ ' With this in mind, Karen summoned a small datapad and quickly wrote a message in it, deciding to forward it to her Oracle first ' _Kei, listen. This is going to sound strange and you may not even believe, but I've been stranded in a different dimension alongside Lilica and Neptune. I'm committing all of my resources into finding a way back, but I want you to contact Miyo and have her return to Arcadia immediately to work with Ophelia on developing a dimensional travel device to get us back just in case I fail on my end. Most importantly, contact the other CPUs and the leaders of my four teams: Garrus, Celina, Ginham, and Lilon. Tell them that the leader of the anti-CPU movement has shown her face when she struck against me, Lilica, and Neptune: Rei Ryghts, former CPU of Tari! Also send a high priority alert to the Parthenians, she is the one who cursed Selles with his immortality. I want him to deploy as many knights as needed to take that woman down!_ '

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time: [9:40] February 9th, 19XX

Location: [Unknown Coast - Western Border]

After spending about a week and a half in flight, receiving Kei's response during her first day of flight whom is obviously unsettled by the report but promised to prepare for Arcadia's DEFCON 3 by alerting both the military and the Parthenian Knights and informing the four teams of this crisis that is at risk of coming to fruition, Karen finally arrived on solid ground, sighing in relief that she can finally take it slow since she can now disengage HDD, but the fact she is still unable to talk with Caelus worries her, all but confirming that the seal Crimson Heart created is preventing Caelus from manifesting her presence in any way, suspecting that Karen would need to restore Crimson's place, her thoughts going toward the CPU Memories given to her by Celina but ultimately decided against it because of how valuable they are, not wanting to waste it on such a trivial matter, though she is hesitant to treat it as such when it comes to a person, though she couldn't help but feel like Caelus would agree with her in this situation; Karen then activated her gauntlet's radar as she slowly swept it from north to south in a clockwise manner, quickly discovering CPU presences to the east, possibly in the direction of the tower she could just barely see far into the distance

"Huh. From what I can see of that tower, which is admittedly little granted, the architecture is oddly similar to Planeptune. Well, I imagine there must be civilization around it. I get a feeling that the purple light I saw before was Neptune. I'd try to contact her directly through my gauntlet but that stupid idiot didn't bring her own. I get we were going on a simple dungeon run not too far away from Planeptune, but she seriously needs to learn to prepare for any contingency."

With a sigh of irritation, Karen proceeded onward toward the tower in the distance but quickly stopped after an hour's trek as she bore witness to a small caravan comprised of standard white and brown carts parked in a half circle nearby a small lake

"Hm, I wonder if I could ask them for a ride to that tower. My body is utterly sore from all the flying in addition to this walking. I'd kill to have some relaxation time."

With this thought cemented in her mind, Karen walked toward the caravan, quickly seeing activity among its members, namely a young woman with snow white hair and red highlights acrobatically spinning in place with her feathery white and red jacket-like dress swaying in the wind, a thick kimono layered above the dress, her gold eyes brimming with both joy and confidence what could be caught of her expression shows she is doing this with purpose, though Karen felt a tinge of surprise at the fact she seemed to be an extradimensional based on the small angel-like wings on top of her head with the exact same color scheme as her hair (that or Karen could see it as a very well-done accessory) and the sound of a sword being sharpened by a whetstone is heard not far away, though her presence was quickly recognized by the red haired girl

"Huh? How did you find this place? I thought we had a shield hiding us-" The girl stopped speaking as she waved her arm about, quickly withdrawing it within her sleeve "Oh, apparently the shield hasn't been created this time. May I ask for your name stranger?"

"I'm Karen Koizumi, and sorry for intruding, I'm looking for transportation to that tower way over there. A friend of mine is over there."

The girl looks in the direction Karen pointed toward before looking back toward her "Name's Shiori Mitsui, though my stage name is Rhio. Anyway, Planeptune Tower? Your friend is there? Huh. This country's still new, I wouldn't expect foreigners to have much in the way of acquaintances or friends there. I'm wandering about building up a fanbase for my idol career with my entourage here. Well, considering I'm the boss among us, I suppose you can tag along with us for a time, but I'll require compensation." The girl inspected Karen, noticing a brief glimpse of the yellow bracelet magnetically attached to the inside of Karen's cast that was the core of Erina's being in addition to housing the power of Tail Yellow, and Shiori subconsciously stared at it as her eyes began to lose color, becoming a dull bronze

"Er, Shiori?"

Hearing Karen speak to her quickly led her to regain sense of her surroundings, shaking her head to focus on reality, her eyes immediately regaining the former brilliance of her gold eyes "Oh. Right. I felt something...off about that yellow bracelet. Looks pretty valuable to me, pretty too if I may be honest. Tell you what, how about we trade? That bracelet for transportation."

"About that-" While Karen was going to flat-out refuse the deal since it was far too slanted against her, especially since Erina is a living being, to an extent granted, she was stopped by Erina herself

' _Karen, I understand you want to keep us protected, but it may be in your best interest to let her have me in this situation. Much like Aika felt symbiosis with Lilica, I'm feeling the same with this Shiori here. She's a very good candidate for becoming the 2nd generation Tail Yellow. Plus, we won't exactly be apart in the truest sense since I can talk with Twoearle and the others from any distance. As long as one of us are with you, you'll have knowledge of what we're currently involved in. We sleep plenty granted because of our human roots being ingrained into our programming, but we nearly always talk to each other. We may have kept quiet since we respect your privacy, but if you ever want our input or information we have access to, you need only ask._ '

' _I do this only because you insist Erina._ ' Karen inaudibly sighed at this turn of events before returning her attention back toward Shiori "Deal. Bring me to Planeptune Tower and I'll give you the bracelet. Not before."

"Heh, I like your business sense. You want to hold onto your end of the payment until the transaction is complete. Fair enough. If you don't mind, I need to get back to my rehearsal, well, after I tell everyone we'll have a new stowaway for a while. Why don't you tag along so you'll know who's who in my troupe here."

"Okay then Shiori."


	4. Debut of Tail Black

Ultradimension Standard Time [8:45] February 18th, 19XX

Location: [Planeptune - Outer Limits]

After spending a week traveling with Shiori's entourage on the way to Planeptune, learning much about her group who were all entertainers in some way, save the group's sole guard whose identity surprised her in Filia Yuasa though Karen was told that this dimension's version of her (this foreknowledge only being known to her) had only reached adulthood a year before now and her skill in battle being remarkably weak though she noticed that this Filia had an even greater drive to become as strong as possible; Karen having heard from Shiori that Filia was born into this caravan nearly twenty years ago and although the group was originally planning on training her to be an acrobat for the group, Filia expressed a desire to help protect everyone since they spend a small fortune on guards whenever they traveled and they were usually always in financial straits even without the guards. Seeing this kind of drive motivated Karen to volunteer to join in her daily training regimen, finding it oddly funny that even with one arm, she was able to overpower her to an extent since this Filia lacks both power and experience and while Karen has only one arm, she carries both which is a huge help in this regard as it's helping her overcome the odds. And while she was told to keep it quiet for the time being since confirmation had not been reached yet, Soji told Karen that this Filia could potentially be compatible with him in becoming the 2nd generation Tail Red.

When the time for her to depart from the group came, she followed through on her promise and gave Shiori the Tail Yellow bracelet Erina was a part of and bid farewell to the group though she felt a tinge of regret since she could've offered monetary compensation since she learned that this dimension uses credits as well; she could've helped alleve some of their financial strain but she had also made a deal to trade transportation for Erina, though obviously Shiori had no knowledge of this particular fact and as she arrived in Planeptune, she looked about the surroundings as she slowly walked about, quickly encountering a girl with bright maize yellow hair with flame orange highlights colored onto the edge of her hair hung in curls wearing a casual pink and white dress who rushed toward Karen with a rather big smile

"Welcome to Planeptune! I'm a member of the welcoming committee; my name's Mary Hilton. Pleased to meet you newcomer."

"Er thanks, but I'm just trying to get to the Basilicom." As much as Karen didn't mind friendliness from people, she was feeling apprehensive as this girl rushed into her personal space when she made her greeting.

"I'll bring you there, come with me."

* * *

With Mary quickly grabbing Karen's right arm, the act preventing Karen from refusing her offer, she pulled her in the direction of the tower at the center of the city, quickly adjusting herself to be right next to her person though the fact that the girl was pushing her D-cup bust against her which was making her nervous since events have led Karen to believe she was bisexual instead of hetero like she had always believed, as the pair walked through the city, quickly finding themselves in a small plaza space outside the tall building

"Here we are. If you have any more questions, you can find me back at the city entrance. I spend a lot of my time there. See ya!"

After bringing Karen to the Basilicom, she quickly ran back in the direction of the city entrance, and with Mary gone, Karen slowly stepped toward the entrance, about to push open the door but stops as she stares at the cast covering the left side of her body, wondering how Neptune would react seeing her injured yet again when, to some extent, Neptune did show some surprising unease with the knowledge that every major injury she has suffered since arriving in Gamindustri seven years ago has indirectly been the CPUs' fault since she and her friends were summoned and trapped in Gamindustri to save them but during the search, she noticed both the five CPU memories and the remaining Tail Gear bracelets missing from the pouches hidden underneath the cast

"Huh? Where they did go- That girl stole them!" With a burst of anger, Karen quickly turned around and dashed after Mary through the city, recognizing that she hasn't gone too far away but broke into a run since she apparently heard Karen chasing her.

When the run had finally reached its end, them ending up in an abandoned warehouse in a remote corner of the city

"Give me back what you took from me thief!"

Mary simply clicked her tongue in annoyance as she stared at Karen's presence "You're annoying but clever to an extent. Usually I'm able to get leagues away before it wears off. I've never actually been confronted like this. Normally I'd say I'm out of my element, but not this time since I have a perfect little weapon I can use now." With an evil smile, she slide the Tail Black bracelet on her right arm and pressed the button on the heart of the frame "Tail On!" This incantation was followed by an instantaneous transformation into the Tail Black armor which is exactly identical to the one used by Dark Grasper during her time among Ultimagil, though Karen found it strange that this Mary's physique as her bust has shrunk from a D to possibly an A "So this is the Twintail power that strange prophet told me about? Interesting. Time to see the next level of power she told me of also." While Karen didn't notice it too much with Lilica since she hardly heard her speak as Tail Blue since their two voices are pretty similar, she noticed that this Mary's voice changed rather significantly as Isuna's seems to be dominant when she is transformed. WIth this, she placed one of the unused CPU memories and attached it to the tail gear as it began to glow black and gold, Mary squirming as pain as magic impulses erupted as her body began to glow and slumped to her knees in pain "Fuck...this power...too...much."

Karen gasped in utter shock and fear as she bore witness to violet colored volcanic veins appearing throughout her skin and her body quickly straining from the power she is being given as her violet colored eyes are glowing red from blood and said blood is slowly pouring down her face from her mouth and eyes, and as Karen's instincts overwhelmed her rationale, her feet charging toward the girl and immediately pulled the CPU Memory off the Tail Gear though the impact caused both to be knocked unconscious from all the power that had been gathered for the transformation which was released all at once.

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time [12:00] February 18th, 19XX

Location: [Planeptune Basilicom - Infirmary]

After slowly coming to from her unconsciousness for the umpteenth time, Karen awoke in what seems to be a hospital wing, Mary still in her unconscious state in a different bed across the room with bandages all over her body, but even with them, she could still see the damage that had been done to her body from the attempted fusion of the Tail Gear and the CPU Memory and at her side, a familiar violet haired, blue eyed goddess is sitting down on a chair next to her bed

"Karen, thank goodness you're okay. I will admit I was freaked out when I saw you passed out in that building alongside this mystery girl. It looked like you were both injured so Noire and I brought the two of you here."

"Neptune, I'm surprised you're alive considering how you are. Despite that, I'm relieved to see you."

"The feeling is mutual Karen considering how much you tend to get into trouble, especially since you lost an arm again. But where's Lilica? I thought she was with you. Or did she get separated too?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence when you're the laziest person in existence when you aren't transformed Neptune." Karen groaned in disbelief, as she cannot believe she's being told off in this way by _Neptune_ of all people "Anyway, I asked Lilica to stay behind to investigate some matters of utmost secrecy for me. While I don't have any means of contacting her directly, she knows where to meet me once she completes her mission. But I am not to be expecting her for some tim -Wait, you said Noire; are the other goddesses here too?"

"Oh no, it's actually just a clone of her pretending to be the real-."

"STOP CALLING ME A CLONE! I AM REAL AND YOU KNOW IT NEPTUNE!" Karen felt the need to cover her ear with her replacement arm while immediately diving to cover the other with her pillow to muffle the sound, seeing a woman with snow white hair and blue eyes entering the room carrying a tray full of various medicines, quickly putting it on a table next to Mary

"Karen, do you actually know what happened to that girl? She looks horrible."

"Not...exactly. It's a bit of a blur." Karen mumbled as she saw the the warped violet and black CPU Memory Mary attempted to use on a table next to her bed, with the old power symbol being replaced with the one used by the Tail Gear and when she lifted her cast, she saw the four returned to where she had been keeping them ' _Isuna, what exactly happened back there?_ '

' _See Karen, unlike the matter of the Tail Gear being able to partition the user's own abilities during access of the Tail Gear, this fusion of Tail Gear and the CPU Memory was unstable since they were clashing at the risk of her own body. We're trying to analyze the frequency and see if we can create a way of collaborating these two powers, but until then, just automatically assume this kind of combination would kill the user. But I'm actually a little surprised here Karen, she's a perfect match for my own Tail Gear here. So far we've found matches for Tail Blue, Yellow, and now Black. We believe we have found one in Red but White's replacement eludes us._ '

' _Ugh. Brutal. Kinda glad I saved her from such a fate even though she seemed willing to fight or even kill me. Until I learn more about this, I'm going to declare she's not deserving of death or...the alternative. I hate myself for doing it when so much was unknown, but I had little other option._ '

Although Karen already carried a tone of somberness, it fell into utter despair when thinking of how she enslaved Filia, her sister, and her squad with a rather unorthodox magic which dominated their minds, afterward vowing she'd never use such extreme power again, preferring to acquire loyalty with consent on both parties. Although she fights it since it's against her nature, Karen has actually contemplated simply killing them. She didn't want them gone since she felt they were still too useful to sacrifice at the time but after meeting the Parthenians and establishing a cordial relationship with them, she understood that their strategic value was waning, especially when Lilica, Astona, Lilon, and Ginham were easily seen as their superior despite being not even being considered full adults yet. The only one she felt was not surpassed yet was Filia herself but she slowly began to learn that Filia was not as strong as she let on as her relaxed status revealed that her magic sword had been heavily guiding her strength ' _It shames me that I used to think she was so powerful yet she was so dependent on her magic after all which boosted her strength. She was acknowledged as a near unbeatable warrior by even the CPUs yet she was so weak. I wonder if Driin would turn in his grave knowing this since he always seemed to value natural strength based on what his memories gave me, seeing magic as a unholy crutch; also makes me wonder if he intended on me learning about his entire history? Ugh...me being a goddess has soured my perspective and turned me into a woman I thought I'd never be. This world has changed us all to some extent, not all in good ways either since I've noticed Katsuo, Yuuki, and Miyo all acting differently the last few years. They tried to hide it, but I know something's wrong there, just...not sure what._ '

* * *

Moments later, Karen began to see Mary's eyes flicker, a clear sign she is regaining sense of her surroundings

"Neptune, Noire, I'd like to speak to her privately. Mind giving me a moment or two?"

"Sure, c'mon clone."

"I AM NOT A CLONE!" Noire once again screamed as she is quickly pushed out of the room by Neptune as Karen slowly pulled herself out of the hospital bed and approached the reawakening Mary

"...Y-You...where...am I?"

"You're in the Basilicom's infirmary. The CPUs brought us here and treated your wounds with conventional medicine as best they could. But you would've been in worse shape had I not pulled the CPU Memory away from you."

"You guys...saved me...? Why?"

"When it comes to the CPUs, you haven't done anything to anger them so they think of you as one of their citizens whom they want to protect and in my case; you may have stolen valuable treasure from me, but it's not exactly something I'd want someone dead over. Besides, your body was suffering and I wanted to quickly stop that. Unfortunately your body is pretty heavily scarred and I don't think that's going away anytime soon."

The girl simply inspected her arms, seeing the colored veins so very prominent coming from when she attempted to use the CPU Memory and fuse the two powers together even though she didn't know the risks, though her sight prevented her from seeing the scars on her face "Guess this means I'm not exactly compatible with that power. I guess I should be thankful that...Tail Black transformation sheltered me from the absolute worst since I would probably be a monster now without it."

"I hate to be the preacher but I hope you've learned that theft can easily get you into huge trouble like this Mary."

She simply weakly nodded in acknowledgement but quickly spoke up, yet keeping her head downcast "It's Hillary."

"Huh?"

"Mary's not my name, it's Hillary. Hillary Adonica, though I've never minded the nickname Nico or Hilda. I use the name Mary Hilton for my escapades. I have been since I was a little girl. Never been caught."

' _Wow, that's actually kind of a cute name. Makes me remember that my mom told me she was considering naming me Hillary when I was born but my dad convinced her to stick with Karen; dunno how, she never told me. Maybe he was being silly and wanted me having both my first name and surname to start with K._ ' "Okay you got me curious, how did you pull that off? Even a master thief I know has been caught during her 'adventures'."

"It's because of the magic I have access to. I can actually muddle people's memory somewhat. Early on, I used it solely to get myself free food since I needed to survive, living without family as I was since my home was destroyed by marauders in untamed territory, but as I got older, I'll admit I got intoxicated by what I was able to do and got greedy since I was able to do much more. But apparently there are people the magic just can't affect. Realize that I say this because I used my magic on you yet your memory was unfazed."

"It might because I am a Console Patron Unit, or goddess in layman's terms. But something has been on my mind. You said a prophet told you about the Tail Gear? How exactly is that possible? Do you know what his or her name was?"

"Mmm...I believe so. Yesterday, some woman wearing a full black cloak with yellow trims approached me and told me I'd be given access to unlimited wealth and power if I pulled off one more heist of sorts. All I had to do was take the Tail Gear and CPU Memories from you. In hindsight, I should've suspected something was off about the offer. It was too convenient and she never told me where to take the things once I got em off you. She said her name was er...Dia I think; yeah Dia. But I did overhear the name Tybalt mentioned when she thought I was gone."

Tybalt?! He's involved?!"

"Wah! D-Do you know who that guy is? Is he the boss in that regard?"

"Sorry for startling you. He's just been becoming an increasingly common entity involved in my recent history. I only know his name but he's a major reason why I ended up in Gamindustri to begin with. He's apparently a being with an extreme amount of power and influence based on what I've been told and shown. If this Dia you spoke of mentioned Tybalt, she might be one of his agents."

"Wow. That's quite something, but you're a worldly foreigner too? You don't look it since everyone I've seen of that sort was quite...exotic for lack of a better term at the moment."

"Anyway, that spell you mentioned certainly does seem to be an asset if used right; manipulating memory like that. But it's also dangerous, not going to lie."

"If you don't want me to do it anymore, I can stop. You saved my life and I owe you. Besides, I knew one day I'd have to stop this whole thing. In fact, I was seriously considering it after this mission."

"You'd give up something you've done for years? Forgive me if I seem skeptical."

"Look, it's just that...awakening as the new Tail Black showed me of the responsibilities and everything these guys are burdened with. I need to shape up and act with honor to some extent. Besides, this hindsight shows me that I've lost my way and let power corrupt me. I only wanted to use this magic to survive since I was left with nothing but I got freaking cocky and used it for things I didn't even truly need. I used to only take small amounts of credits so I could buy food, not enough to ruin someone's life, just very mildly inconvenience their day. Besides, and realize that this is a minor trifle in that regard, but I can't exactly keep doing what I was doing when I look like something out of a horror film with all these scars. I'd scare people the frick away."

Karen placed a hand on her chin as she looked downward, pondering her thoughts on the matter and sighed a silent sigh "You know what, I'll give you a trial run since you're considered a perfect candidate for that Tail Gear. I don't have the means of returning to my previous world at this time but I've basically been told to stay on standby until they can figure a way of getting me back home. Basically, I want you to help me help Neptune. If she's the leader of this country, this place is going to need MAJOR help. But since I don't want to deal with finding replacements for the Tail Gear if this takes too long, I want to offer you something: If you want, I can freeze your ability to age with my power as a goddess and 'restart' it when I am able to find a way back."

This time it was Hillary that fell silent as her expression showed she was cautiously thinking about the offer since immortality was both one of humanity's greatest desires alongside it being an utter nightmare under specific circumstances "I accept the offer. If I do this, it might help show me what path I should take as a proper human."

"Well then, normally I'd advise you to speak with my second but she's away helping me with a special mission and since I want to make sure you're monitored, at least for now, so you don't relapse into your past, I want you close by. While I'm reluctant to leave Neptune to her own devices, I have priorities that must be completed, and right now, that's finding people who are candidates for the Tail Gear. I've found three and a potential fourth already, so we need to find the last. Here, transform into Tail Black and let's start patrols. Twoearle is able to tell me when she can detect a perfect match, same as Erina, Soji, and Isuna. In exchange, I want you to tell me as much as you can about this world. I need to know what I'm dealing with since civilization seems unusually sparse despite this level of technological achievement."

"Deal."

* * *

A/N: Regarding the form I gave for Tail Black being the same as Dark Grasper from the anime, realize that I don't have access to the light novels so I have no means of learning this information conventionally, but the sources I use say that she does become Tail Black through some means in the LNs, and because of this I do not have access to the description of what she looks like so I'm taking a rather cheap approach and just giving her the same look as Dark Grasper. And although I've been presenting candidates for the Tail Gear left and right, it's stopping here since Tail White's replacement is going to be introduced much later in the story. As to when that is specifically, it will be Chapter 8 of the source material in Victory, when the 5th nation was flexing its muscles so to speak.

Lastly, I know this is a really short chapter considering my usual standards, but I'm going to be doing a time-skip in the next chapter mirroring the source material in Neptunia Victory and Re;Birth 3 and I want to avoid implementing them in the middle of a chapter as much as possible.


	5. Arrival into Lastation

A/N: Okay, I learned a bit late that there actually is a more organized time scale in terms of years in this universe that I can use for this story. So...yeah, ignore the use of XXs in the years in my previous few chapters regarding Ultradimension standard time. Pretend it's listed as 1989.

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time [10:00] May 9th, 1992

Location: [Planeptune - Basilicom]

Three years have passed since Karen had decided to set up shop in this dimension's Planeptune alongside Neptune, quickly joined by Thraaklon, Klumse, and Celina when they arrived after repairing the shuttle, each providing their own skills to help in combat, engineering, and civil affairs respectively. And despite all the time that had passed while trying to maintain Planeptune's status in the world against her rivals in the long-lasting nation of Lowee and the newcomer in Lastation, Karen had neither found any way back to the Hyperdimension nor heard from Lilica Teken, both pieces of news gave her no sense of ease.

' _This is concerning. I've asked Thraaklon to take the shuttle back to Keisa a year and a half ago and ask Senturon and Nostrum if they've seen Lilica, but they haven't seen her since she left a week after we did. Twoearle and the others tell me that Aika is still alive, and hopefully Lilica by extension, but she refuses to talk about her status. I've been told that this is unusual behavior for Aika so maybe Lilica is telling her to keep silent? But why? I hope she's okay._ '

"Karen, do you know where you put the tax return forms for processing?"

"Er, give me a minute Cel. I was out on a few quests with Hillary the last couple of days and I'm a little unfamiliar with the stacks here." Frowning as she looked through the, admittedly small, pile of papers assembled on the table in front of them both, she quickly found the requested form as she places it in front of her fellow CPU "There you go. You know, I'm always surprised at how someone blind like you is able to handle administration work. No offense naturally."

"You and me both. Maybe I've just developed a sense of sight for this kind of thing. Heh, funny words coming from a blind." Cel spoke with a rather calm air as she slowly ran her hand over the braille which was translated for her use in the forms; Karen teaching her how to read that language so she can work with lesser need to rely on others.

While Karen was about to return focus on her paperwork, the sound of the door opening had her turn her head toward the source of the sound, finding it to be who Neptune called 'Mini-Histy', whom has a despondent frown on her face

"Er, did we do something wrong Histoire?"

"Of course not! It's just Neptune and Plutia. I caught them trying to sleep the day away again, neglecting their workload (*￣m￣)." Histoire took a moment's pause as she sighed an irritated sigh "It is utter insanity that the two CPUs that _should be_ working are doing nothing while the two who have _no_ obligation to Planeptune are slaving away. Sometimes I worry for Planeptune when her own guardian CPUs are the laziest individuals I know (；一_一). Especially if you two decide to leave and form your own nation. Trust me when I say, I'd feel the tiniest inklings on joining you if you did."

"Trust me Histoire, I share your irritance in that regard."

"I hate to burden you, but would you and Hillary mind going with those two to Lastation? I'm forcing them to go visit Noire for training. I want you to go make sure they are properly trained and more importantly, there alive. A number of dungeons have been spawning lately which are infested with monsters and the best way to Lastation itself has been overtaken by a dungeon called Jet Set Range. Stay on guard."

"Ah geez, those places are irritating. Well, I suppose I could use a chance to flex my muscles in combat. I'll have Hillary prep for battle. I want to say 'grant us luck' Histoire, but this is Neptune and Plutia we're talking about, so I'm already expecting the worst."

"Me too. (^_^メ) But even still, I wish to give it, but only in the hope you and Hillary will keep your sanity. Don't worry, I'll help Celina to the best of my ability while you are away, and of course I'm sure Thraaklon and Klumse will help however they can as well. We'll keep things orderly in your absence (⌒▽⌒)."

' _Karen, this may actually be good timing on our part. Erina said that Shiori and her entourage are on their way to Lastation themselves. You may be able to convince her to join you if you catch up with them. She may have been training with her bow a great deal, but Hillary won't be able to take on enemies that close in on her. The only melee combatants among the five of us are Blue, Red, and White. Blue is with Lilica and we haven't found a perfect candidate for Red or White yet. That girl, Filia you called her I believe, is still being debated. Even if we awaken Yellow, she's still a ranged heavy fighter. We need a melee oriented fighter ASAP. Remember that you're not exactly in what I call peak condition with only one arm. I guess we'll have to rely on the two CPUs with you for a time, but I would still rather have my own Twintails around to help us fight._ '

' _I disagree with your claim Twoearle. I can still fight even with one arm, I just need the right-_ '

' _Karen, the fact you're arguing with me only reinforces my point. You've said that your previous sword had the ability to let you fight like a master but your current one doesn't. You may have been trained, but not enough to fight with your stance so tilted toward your right because of your mechanical arm. It had always been counterbalanced by your own natural arm. Even studying your posture from walking is enough for me to realize this. You subconsciously let your weight lean rightward and sword fighting requires a strong stable balance. Just trust in the girls to cover combat alright? Act as a general for them. You possess experience they don't have, well save Lilica, correct?_ '

' _You._ ' Karen silently exasperated a sigh in defeat knowing she's been outmatched, just never wanting to admit it bluntly unless she knew she couldn't worm her way out ' _You're right. I've just been deluding myself since I'm afraid of losing a sense of presence here. Lately, the only thing I've felt confident about is my swordplay and it's become difficult for me to handle that with a single arm. Ever since I took up this kind of 'profession' as a leader, I've always led from the frontlines and fought alongside my team. Consider me nervous to be abandoned if someone better than me appeared or worse, someone close to me became better than me. I don't want to think of it as a superiority complex or anything of the sort but...I've always wanted to try remaining in control so I'd have a reason to be around. They'd need me around._ '

' _Then take the time to foster camaraderie between you and the Twintails. Work to ensure they will remain loyal to you and they will stay by your side, even if they would become stronger. Realize that although our partners have their own stances, the five of us will remain loyal to you since, without you, we likely would have been stranded in that forest or perhaps even killed by those creepy beasts that assaulted the Darknuts and Wizzrobes._ '

' _Thank you Twoearle. You've given me something to think about._ '

* * *

After giving a bow of farewell toward Celina and Histoire, Karen exited the room and walked through the Basilicom's hallways toward an indoor archery range built with a length of fifty meters and by the entrance of the door, Karen quickly found Hillary in her normal human form, staring down a target through a scope attached to her black and rose pink tinted longbow, letting the arrow fly free the moment the door opened, Karen quickly seeing that the arrow struck the target perfectly though Karen quickly saw the arrow dissolve into dust, indicating that the arrows were being created through magic; a useful gift to possess as having to buy arrows frequently would become incredibly expensive.

"Nice shooting there Hilda. If you're able to shoot that quickly and from that far a distance, your ability in real combat will be exceptional."

"WAH!" The sudden remark from Karen had frightened Hillary as her focus had been laser focused on her archery practice, her stance instantly turning toward Karen and instinctively firing an arrow, it hitting the wall inches away from her head and the precision path actually separating a small bundle of her hair from her head which scattered into the wind. Saying Karen was shocked by turn of events would be an understatement "I-I'm so sorry Master! I didn't mean to attack you like that! Please forgive me!"

"Relax, I know you didn't mean to do this. I shouldn't have called out to you so abruptly. I should've waited for you to put your bow down first."

"Even still-!"

"I told you to cool it Hilda. I'm not angry. But look, I need you to get ready for combat. We need to escort Neptune and Plutia to Lastation through Jet Set Range so Noire can train them to be proper CPUs. Heaven forbid that she doesn't ask me, but then again, I would've refused since I would've given up after two days at the absolute longest."

"Okay then Master. Oh, and I actually came into contact with the prophet I met years ago, the one who contracted me to steal from you. She wants to meet with you. I was given the means of contacting her so I can tell her to come to Lastation if you wish."

"Yeah, I want answers about Tybalt and this might be my best opportunity to gain those answers. If you could Hilda, get ahold of that Dia woman and ask her to come meet me. I've never exactly made an enemy out of this person as far as I know, and if I'm right, he seems interested in keeping Arcadia and, hopefully by extension, me around. So that should mean I am going to be on at least amicable terms. But come on, we had better get moving."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time [15:00] May 9th, 1982

Location: [Planeptune Border - Jet Set Range]

After arriving in the verdant mountainous grassland comprising the environment of this dungeon, the quartet found themselves standing above a hill with sights of the entire area, Karen finding the display of undisturbed nature hypnotic

"Wow. If this place wasn't a dungeon, this would be a perfect spot to have a picnic or establish a scenic overlook. A shame that the dungeon's monsters make this area too dangerous." With this cheerful admittance coming from Karen, she closed her eyes to, on the surface, mentally focus where she was actually about to talk with Twoearle ' _Twoearle, is Shiori and Erina here?_ '

' _Gimme a few seconds please. I need to ask._ ' As advertised, Twoearle swiftly fell silent and quickly regained traction ' _She is. Shiori's caravan is parked in a small corn- Oh no, Filia went out on a small reconnaissance run and monsters are teleporting in! They're surrounded!_ '

With this turn of events being revealed to Karen, inspecting the area and sees where the caravan lies in the distance, surrounded by monsters blocking their only exit, quickly turning her attention back to her companions "Neptune, Plutia, Hilda, Shiori's caravan is surrounded by monsters and Filia went off somewhere so they're unprotected! Neptune, Plutia, you two go down the path and try to find Filia. I'll bring Hilda with me to guard them until you return."

"Oh nepperz, that talented entertainer is trapped by monsters? C'mon Plutie, let's find her guard."

"Kaaayyy."

Knowing that time is of the essence, Karen transformed into her goddess form, Hilda activating her own Tail Gear to transform into Tail Black as well and as she knows time of the essence, she firmly held onto Karen's back as they flew into the air toward the caravan, carefully adjusting herself so she won't fall as she let her body slide backwards and then upside down as she has an undeterred sight of the battlefield ahead of her, aiming her bow with the skill of a master archer

"Try to keep your flight stable master and I can take out a monster or two along the way."

"Ugh...easier...said than...done with you weighing me down. It's tough enough just flying right now. I mean, you're upside down aiming a bow! That's not something I can easily work around." Befitting this challenge, Karen would normally stay close to the ground when she flies since she prefers keeping the time needed to transition from air to ground minimal, this time requiring her to remain far higher in the sky and flying far more slowly to avoid bringing harm to Hillary and herself by extension.

When the pair got close to the isolated plateau, their presence was recognized by the monsters as they fired bursts of magic in their direction and because Karen has been weighed down so much because of her having to balance Hillary on her person, she was hit thrice which quickly caused her to crash to the ground in front of the caravan, said crash disengaging her HDD while Hillary had a degree more stability as she leapt back behind the caravan, unleashing arrow after arrow against the monsters from the safety of a small alcove

"Wait, you're the CPU Aqua Heart I've heard so much about the last couple of years? Have to say, I'm glad you're here. Filia went off to scout the area while we stayed here to rest for a short time. Please, take care of these things for us."

"Shiori, no offense but I can't help you in this regard. I'm too badly hurt and Hilda there isn't strong enough to take on all of these monsters on her own. I know you're not exactly big on battle, but I need you to join her."

"But how? All I have is acrobatics, that's not enough for me to fight monsters. I don't even have any weapons!"

"That's where you're wrong Shiori. That bracelet I gave you three years ago is a weapon in of itself. Place it on your wrist and chant the incantation: Tail On. That'll give you the power needed to join us in battle."

"But I...okay. I need to protect my family here. I refuse to let them fall in battle!" With a look of hesitation, she pulled out the Tail Yellow bracelet and gently attached it to her arm after pulling up her sleeve and crosses it as she lets out the incantation, hey body quickly being enveloped by a translucent yellow light as her curly snow white hair changed to a bright yellow hung in twintails much like Hilda or Lilica and befitting the transformation from Shiori to Tail Yellow, her kimono vanished, replaced with a yellow and white bodysuit decorated with black trims and armor covering much of it with two oversized pauldrons holding what seems to be advanced lasers and when the light faded, Shiori slowly inspected her newly transformed body "Wow...I feel so different. I can feel so much power coursing through my veins. And the memory of Tail Yellow's service against Ultimagil...I see. So I'm the third to be awakened in this world. Let me show you how strong I am Master!" Shiori felt a tad surprised addressing Karen in such a way since she was the leader of the group for the longest time, this gesture seeming natural to her despite her legacy.

After seeing the transformed Shiori say this with a proud smile, Karen witnessed the armor magnetically breaking off from Shiori's body and reconstituting into a large blaster she would typically see in a Super Sentai show, with a large number of lasers and rockets firing from it as she moved it from left to right, destroying all of the monsters currently present alongside Hilda's archery, giving a moment of peace as Karen picked herself up, walking next to Shiori and Hilda, whom exited her perch. But when a new multi-colored monster appeared, the two quickly take up their weapons and unleash a barrage of arrows and lasers which simply bounce off and are absorbed respectively, the display frightening them both as they take a half step back

"I-It's immune to our attacks?!" Despite Hilda's utter shock of this development, she let another arrow fly free to no avail as it simply bounced off once again.

"Master, maybe melee attacks will work on this one!"

The sudden call for aid from Shiori led Karen to rise as she drew her sword, but the moment she attempted to tighten her stance, she immediately slumped to her knees leaning on her sword

"Sorry, but I'm not going to be able to fight with you guys here. I'm too badly hurt." This response frightened the two fighters since they had no means of damaging the monster when a trio in Neptune, Plutia, and Filia quickly appeared behind the beast

"Sorry for the wait, it took quite a while to find little miss runaway here. Need a hand?"

"Absolutely. This monster's immune to our ranged attacks so I'm guessing we have to stick with melee and I'm hardly in a position to fight."

"Ooookkkkaaayyy. I'll just-"

' _Oh shit, Plutia's going to transform, I just know it!_ ' The moment Plutia said the words 'I'll just', Karen knew she was going to activate her HDD; the mere mention of Iris Heart was enough to terrify Karen to her utter core infinitely worse than when she first met the Parthenian Knights years prior since she had the extreme misfortune to come across her by chance and it practically destroyed her sanity at the time. The only reason she was able to quickly recover was because of Hilda and Klumse taking her out on a 'Girl's night out', which was simply an excuse to get Karen away from the Basilicom to heal. While she suspected Selles would be enough to frighten Wrex and Filia, she _knew_ that Iris Heart would damage their mental sanity, quickly turning toward the caravan "Hilda, Yellow, you guys. Run. And. Hide. _NOW_." Wanting to spare herself from being mentally tortured again by Iris Heart, she ran behind the carts, urging them to follow before things get far worse.

* * *

After seeing the caravan members, sans Filia, and Hilda rush to the back side with the sound of Iris Heart going wild frightening the people around her, shivers running down their spines and when the sound of battle ended, Karen slowly turned her head to see Plutia reverted to her human form, Filia shivering in her boots

"I'm sleepy Neppy, give me a piggyback ride."

"Excuse me?! I don't really like maintaining this form when I don't need to. I'm changing back to human form and I'd never be able to carry you. Go ask the people in the caravan for a ride if you're tired."

"Kkkaaayyy." With a smile, Plutia walked toward the carts where the caravan crew were hiding at Karen's urging.

"W-We'll let you come, just don't hurt us!"

"Yay, let's go Neppy!"

' _Soji, now that Filia's here, do you know if she's a candidate to become 2nd gen Tail Red? We need a dedicated melee fighter until Lilica returns since Hilda's an archer and Shiori seems to be a gunner based on her weapons there. And you've told me that Red, Blue, and White are melee fighters._ '

' _I don't know Karen. For whatever reason, she seems compatible but there's something...I don't know how to say it, but I can tell that her ability to synchronize with the Tail Gear is being distorted. Maybe she's subconsciously resisting this? In any case, I'd suggest either waiting and see if she might overcome this block or find a different candidate. Based on Twoearle's machinations, there's never a single candidate who can use this power at a time in the world. It just depends on compatibility. Besides, it'd be surprising if we managed to find a match for us all in only three years time. You've done something extraordinary by finding Aika, Erina, and Irina partners in Lilica, Shiori, and Hillary. By the way, I believe now would be a good time to start giving the girls nicknames._ '

' _Ugh. Soji, I'm not exactly the best with people names. Can't I just call them by their own names?_ '

' _It's preferable to do so, since the Twin-tail power is something akin to a superhero and people of that caliber need hidden identities._ '

Karen simply pondered this as the caravan members quickly packed up shop, everyone boarding the carts as they moved through the teleporter and proceeded through the dungeon, the lead cart being inhabited by Karen, Hillary, and Shiori by themselves, both of the fighters having returned to their human forms as they sit across from Karen

* * *

Chirper Events:

Lily Rank 6 - Karen, Hillary, and Shiori

"That was surprisingly fun Master. Never thought I'd actually fight monsters like that since I'm just a performer."

"About that Shiori, I'd really appreciate you not calling me Master. It just doesn't sit well with me. Same with you Hilda. I've told you time and time again about that. I only barely tolerate it."

"But it's natural for me to address you in such a way, right Shiori?"

After seeing Shiori confidently nod and smirk proudly, Karen simply groaned in annoyance "Damn it. You're becoming as irritating as some of my friends were capable of being. Okay look. Shiori, I need to ask you something. Do you plan on staying with your caravan considering you awakened as Tail Yellow? Or do you want to accompany me and the others?"

"That's actually a bit of an interesting question. I don't really have an answer for that right now since this is so sudden. Either way, you seem to have a traveler sort of mentality which is what this caravan here embraces. I've spent years traveling trying to find a certain someone who stole something very important to me. I may not be able to get it back since it was destroyed not long after the fact, but I want to confront this individual and get payback. She has to be somewhere, but I just don't know _where_. I'm determined to spend my life searching. Hm, give me a day or two to think about it."

"That sounds dangerously close to a circle of revenge there Shiori. As the phrase implies, it's endless. You sure you want such a thing upon yourself? This person's friends or family may end up trying to hunt you and or your caravan down out of revenge. Besides, do you seriously want to waste your life hunting down an old feud?"

"This person has no friends or family. I know that very well. No one will mourn her death. Besides, the day this woman crossed me, my life ceased to matter until I get revenge. Being a performer is a means to an end for me. I live only to kill this woman."

Karen and Hillary were both left agape at how blunt Shiori was regarding her life having no meaning apart from revenge and as they are desperate for a way out, Karen closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered what Soji said to her

"Shiori, there's one last one thing I want to ask you. If you do decide to join us, you're going to need a new nickname of sorts befitting you being Tail Yellow and all. Cause I hardly think you want to be referred to as Yellow."

"Yeah, that's...atrocious. Not a fan."

At the mention of this, Hillary shifted her head downward, her expression showing she's deep in thought before gently tightening her right hand into a fist and taps her left "Hey, what do you about a nickname of Risa, Shiori? With my experiences in mind, I tended to take parts of my own name to form a nickname to hide my identity, to make either Nico or Hilda. Shiori Mitsui. Risa."

With a small smile and blush, Shiori covered her lower face with her kimono sleeve to try hiding it to no avail based on the soft girly voice coming from her person "Risa's cute. I...wouldn't be opposed to that."

"Wow, you have a bit of a gift with names there Hilda. Do you think you'd be able to think of one for my second when she returns? She's going to need a hidden identity since she's using the Tail Blue power."

"What's her real name? I need that context to rack my head for ideas."

"Lilica Teken."

A minute of hums passed as Hilda attempted to focus on the matter of giving Lilica a new nickname when she returns to the group "What would you think of Niki? Or rather...what would she think…? Ugh, I thought of it on a whim, but I'm not sure if this would fit her character without knowing for sure. I've never met this person before so I'm taking a gamble."

"I'm sure she'll like it, but then again, I don't like forcing my opinions on others anymore, so we should ask her this when she returns. It ended disastrously last time I did. Never again will I resort to such extreme means."

This response introduced unease into the pair as they fell silent, unsure how to respond in face of this.

* * *

Return to story

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time [16:30] May 9th, 1982

Location: [Unknown]

After the trio fell silent, Karen closed her eyes to meditate yet again in what she presumes to be a futile effort in reaching Caelus since, despite enjoying the peace and quiet in her mind, she had quickly missed having her around to talk with, finding the idea of always having someone close by to talk with even when by her lonesome was an appealing concept, searching the dark reaches of what she presumes is her soul for any trace of Caelus' energy within her.

"Why am I unable to find her? I've been searching for so long but every time I seem to get close, I am repulsed and forced back to reality. She MUST be here somewhere. I need to find her and free her from this three year long seal."

"Goddess, this is irritating now. I initially found it funny watching your squirm in near vain trying to find Caelus after she was sealed to properly control my own power when you needed it to repulse those demonic beasts, but now it's just sad. Especially when you've been so close now!" The second Karen heard this, she turned to find CPU Crimson sitting on a rock formation staring her down with an utterly condescending glare.

"I don't have time for you Crimson Heart. If you're here only to mock me, go fuck off. I have things I have to do."

"Yeesh, the mouth on you, or rather, us I suppose in a small way. Though it should be just you since I can actually hold my temper unlike you apparently. Geez, I thought you'd treat the person who can help you free Caelus with due respect."

"Why did you wait until now to say this?! Start talking."

"You're as bad as Croire. Can't believe I'm saying that of all things. Listen. Evolution requires conflict as a baseline. It does require many things, but conflict is a core factor. While I didn't intentionally decide to keep this seal active when you created me, it was a good way of testing your resolve and the matter of evolution as a whole. You may not see it this way, but for you; HDD is a form of evolution and you've never had to truly struggle to achieve it. So I'm going to force conflict into the mix for you to properly 'evolve'. And yes, that even means I was limiting your power of HDD since the brief time you spent as me gave me this ability. And let me clear up a preconception you've held the last couple of years. This isn't exactly your inner soul as you believe it is. Your presence here is your soul manifested in physical form, much like myself. This is actually an ethereal spirit world this particular dimension carries when an individual falls into a deep meditative trance or even sleep, though I will admit it's rare for people to be conscious in this realm when they are in slumber. This is where Caelus lies."

"Look, I'm frustrated alright. I've had a ton of things plaguing my mind day and night and being stranded in this dimension is not helping allay those fears at all. I need to return quickly and make sure my nation survives since there's only a few years remaining until the monsters evolve and become far more deadly. Being a leader freaking bites sometimes but as a goddess, I have to step up to the plate."

"I understand the responsibility of leadership you were forced into. That level of responsibility, when forced upon a person with no warning, is capable of destroying that person yet you've maintain sanity, have to say that's remarkable. Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. Those who do not seek power tend to have a slightly higher resistance, but realize I say resistance. Not immunity." Crimson Heart turned her head downward, her expression showing her being deep in thought and simply shook her head as it rose back to face Karen "Enough talk. We need to get moving. Like I said, this is a spirit world and it is not exactly all sunshine and rainbows. There are a good number of malevolent spirits infesting this place, though they only ever go after those who are conscious here. I'll protect you from these ones as best I can since this is my test for you."

* * *

As the pair began to walk through the milky black environments, Karen felt herself being watched, her eyes gazing toward a large bipedal feline like golem with silver layered armor covering much of its backside from its head all the way to its curved tail shaped almost like a scorpion's, spikes poking out above the armguards, head, and even protecting its long claws on its hands, and razor sharp fangs in its wide mouth, pure darkness seeping out from its underbelly, in the distance and next to it, a ivory green stag with bright white eyes with what seems to be tree like appendages comprising its legs and horns stood watching Karen's movement without blinking a single moment

"Er, Crimson, what are those two?"

Crimson Heart turned her head in the direction Karen was staring and gave a weak smile "Oooh...that's two of the five elemental 'guardians' of the spirit world here: Biovina the Thunder Spirit and Garvum the Spirit of Darkness. No spirit is as strong as those five: Biovina, Garvum, Carsur, Cydari, Niadhy. Thunder, Darkness, Fire, Water, Light. But they usually never show themselves to outsiders. Funnily enough, they're not native to Gamindustri, but when they appeared in this spirit realm, they took full command."

"Should I be worried? Are these five benevolent? Malevolent?"

"I'd say ambivalent in this situation. They never make friends or enemies directly but they are utterly feared by all and rarely, if ever, show themselves. I carry no fear but I have zero confidence I'd actually attain anything close to victory if I fought any of them. But I'd worry that you actually attracted their attention. I have no way of knowing if they think of you as friend or foe. But if anything, as long as any of them stay close, no malevolent spirits should approach us." ' _Damn it Biovina, Garvum. You ruined my plan! I wanted one of those spirits to actually attack her per my test. Not a strong one that could actually be a threat to her, mind you, but a malevolent spirit nonetheless. Well, all of us spirits can still transform our physical makeup as long as we reside in this realm. They won't care if I take matters into my own hands, I just need to avoid ticking them off. Time to learn a lesson Karen._ '

As the pair continue their walk, they quickly come across a shiny silver round temple similar in design to that of the Roman Empire back on Earth standing out like a sore thumb in midst of the dark environments

"That temple is a font of spirit energy in this realm Karen. I actually used it when you were in battle against those beasts years ago to come to your aid. Meditate within it and you should be able to reach Caelus. You can't summon your own weapons in this place and in case I'm wrong about the spirits, you need to be able to defend yourself so…" Crimson paced about the temple and from a ripple of space, she slowly pulled out a simple looking nodachi and kept the blade downward as she walked back toward Karen "This sword actually found its way here from a different world a few centuries back according to some of the benevolent spirits. Apparently, it goes by the name: Nietono no Shana which was used by a being known as a Flame Haze, whatever that means." After explaining its origins, Crimson places the sword into Karen's hand "I'm going to go talk with the others. I want to gather a consensus about the great spirits making their presence known for the first time in a long while. If it were only one, I'd just shrug it off, but two? I don't like it."

* * *

After seeing the CPU depart, Karen sat down in a lotus stance, the sword at her side as she attuned herself with the energy around her, using it as a means of contacting Caelus, this time finally feeling a spark

"Caelus, answer this summons and return to me. The time for your inactivity has come to an end."

After this demand Karen voiced, a weak raspy voice rang out as a wisp slowly appeared in front of Karen "Why did you wake me up? I was enjoying this nice rest."

"Caelus, you've been sleeping too long now. It's been three years since the battle where I regained my HDD."

"Three years? Shit. Didn't know it was that long a sleep. If you're the telling the truth, I had better stand at attention." Caelus genuinely sounded shocked at the revelation of how much time had passed during her slumber as the wisp that counted as a physical form in this realm flew toward Karen, merging with her, her voice no longer being out in the field but in Karen's mind "Okay, it's go time- Watch out, there's something about to leap into battle against you!"

The moment she heard Caelus cry out, warning her about battle, she grabbed the sword at her side and immediately turned to repulse a strike against her, noticing it being a rather grotesque looking spirit with large blade-like fingers connected by a sickly green and black tinted body, its right side having oversized armor plating which would make attacking that side futile, a Y shaped head, and thin stick like legs reinforced with even more layered armor plating, her sword being locked in between the fingers from the suddenness of her counterattack

"Oh goddess, what the hell is this thing?!"

' _That must be one of the spirits that reside in this realm. I may have been asleep, but that doesn't mean I didn't hear things. Let me help you partner. Keep up the battle and I'll study this thing's fight pattern._ '

* * *

With a mental nod, Karen withdrew the sword from the spirit's grasp, leaping backward as she tightened her stance, staring the spirit down as it too began watching Karen's movements, each slowly walking in a circle, neither making any movements as it seemed both were waiting for the other to make a move which would favor the defender

' _I need to be cautious. I'm in poor physical condition so whether it is offense or defense, I am at a disadvantage compared to a fully intact spirit. But why would a spirit turn up out of the blue? Crimson Heart said that the Great ones would deter hostile spirits._ '

As Karen pondered this scenario in her head, it had subconsciously lowered her guard enough that the spirit dashed forward with an upward slash, making her unable to retaliate and quickly sent her to her back. A single moment passed as her sword is kicked aside, the claws inches from her face as she is pinned by its left arm as this combination of events completely removed any chance of retaliation by her hand. As she saw the spirit move its right arm backward with a clear intent of stabbing it through her chest at a rapid speed, her irides shrunk and her eyes opened wide

"S-S-SOMEONE HELP ME!"

The moment Karen screamed this, the two great spirits she witnessed early stomped into the field, Biovina ramming the spirit away while Garvum stood at attention, staring the spirit down with fury in its eyes but moments later, a girlish chuckle escaped from the grotesque spirit in front of her, its voice sounding very much like Crimson Heart's, the spirit's appearance changed to that of Crimson Heart's.

"Well it's a bit lackluster, but I suppose you passed the test I had in mind Karen Koizumi. For years you expressed a rather firm interest against others helping you so I set up a plan on forcing you into a situation where you had to call for help or die. You need to learn to let go of your cursed pride. I will say it was difficult to get these two to even give me the time of day let alone give me aid."

"Do not presume we are are friends simply because we decided to assist you in this test CPU. We do this only because this Crimson Heart pledged to serve as a seer for us here in the spirit realm. We care not for the existence of malevolent spirits, only that they do not clash with those who transcend from the physical realm. Now that your business is concluded, leave this place. You are not welcome in this particularly violent section of the spirit realm. We protected you this once since you're new, and it was something Crimson Heart expressed desire in testing your character. Come again, you're on your own. Neither of us, or Carsur and Cydari, maybe not Niadhy since she's such a bleeding heart, will come to your aid. Leave."

* * *

Just to emphasize how little interest Garvum in continuing the conversation, the spirit had grabbed Karen with its hand, taking care to avoid scratching, or worse stabbing, her skin, and threw in the direction of the temple, quickly passing through what seems to be a ripple in the spirit realm, quickly finding herself back in her own body, reeling backward out of shock and rapidly looking about the area

"Are you okay master?!"

"Y...Yeah. Just a little disoriented I guess. Thanks for the concern Hilda. How long has it been?"

"About two hours. We're out of the dungeon, we were just waiting for you to reawaken. My caravan didn't want to leave you stranded since we're aiming to go northward and Lastation is going to be eastward. We wanted to make sure you're up and about before heading out. I've given it a little thought and I can't abandon my caravan right now. They're my family and I can't just leave them flat out. I need to ease them into this. That and our livelihood would be in some jeopardy if I leave. I do wish to join you in the near future, but I need to make sure they're okay since I'm the founder of this group."

"I understand Shiori. Take your time. If you do decide to join us, come meet us in Planeptune." Karen nodded in understanding of the situation Shiori has to deal with before looking toward the carts "Is Neptune and Plutia still around?"

"Actually no. They left not too long ago. Plutia kept going on and on about visiting Noire and forced Neptune to carry her along in her HDD form via piggyback. My people are honestly just glad to have that sadistic goddess gone. Incidentally, she's banned from our shows. Farewell."

* * *

Ultradimension Standard Time [19:00] May 9th, 1982

Location: [Lastation]

After arriving in Lastation proper, Karen was awed by the advanced industrial landscape mirroring that of the Lastation from the dimension she knows, figuring that the wing shaped structure in the center is this country's Basilicom

"Hilda, contact Dia and ask her to meet me in a bar somewhere close by. That one there: Eclipse. In the meantime, go make sure Neptune and Plutia keep to their assignment given to them by Histoire."

"Got it Mas-" While it was obvious what Hillary was about to say, she was stopped by Karen displaying a glare "Lady Aqua Heart." Hillary sheepishly added this correction as she pulled out an earpiece, inserting it into her right ear and tapped it to activate its communication system, wordlessly speaking whatever she is saying before smiling "She's agreed to the proposal milady. She's already here in Lastation and is on route to meet you. Good luck."

Seeing Hilda leave in a run toward the Basilicom, Karen calmly walked toward the bar, entering it to find it surprisingly empty aside from the barkeeper cleaning some glasses, hardly shifting her eyes as Karen sat at the counter in front of her, looking upward toward the menu posted on the wall, recognizing a beverage often served in Planeptune's own bars, it having become one of her favorites when she finishes her responsibilities in the Basilicom or even when she goes out with Hillary and or Klumse

"One Sherry Enigma. Light on the spice. I have someone coming to meet me and I want to stay coherent." After placing the order, Karen placed a 25 G coin on the table which was quickly taken.

* * *

With a silent nod, the barkeeper prepared the requested beverage and poured it into a mug, placed where the coin stood, drinking it slowly with a small smile, though even small bursts of it being light still tended to make her feel lightheaded even after having it for over two years but she quickly witnessed a person wearing a black cloak with yellow trims much like Hillary described years ago approach, standing next to the chair where she is sitting

"I'll have what my friend had barkeep. Double dose and heavy on the spice. Let's have a little more privacy buddy ol pal of mine. There's a quiet corner over there." Where Karen expected a relatively firm and serious persona underneath the cloak, she was met with the voice of a rather energetic teenage girl

After paying for her own drink, she urged Karen to follow her lead toward the corner like she said, sitting across from each other at the table, quickly met with the barkeeper bringing two mugs and walked away just as quickly

"So little Hilda told me you wanted to talk with me Karen Koizumi?"

"Yep. I'm trying to get information about your boss: Tybalt."

"Not much I can tell you unfortunately. I'm bound with a magical non-disclosure agreement programmed into me. As you can probably imagine from that, I'm a rather advanced homunculi created by my boss, much like many of his other followers. But unlike most homunculi, I and the others actually have some degree of free will and autonomy. We're just bound by our orders."

"Okay then. This is a question I've had on my mind for years. Hikaru, or rather Ulrich Stern I guess, and XANA. I want to know why they ended up in my world."

"That honestly was just a bit of an accident if I may be frank. We've been keeping an eye on a different you for a number of years since we believed her authoritarian nature that was developed because of her being trapped in Sword Art Online would be what we need for our master's plan and acted along with it. It greatly differs with your kind-hearted nature. However, there was some sort of error at the last moment. Instead of the AI itself, we brought that human along with it to your dimension. Thing is, our consensus about this is conflicted. There are some of us who believe this particular you is a detriment to us and should be removed quickly, but then there are some of us who think the opposite. That you could be an ally we can count on since your nature allowed you to secure loyalty from allies this other you would never be able to attain like Miyo Hanari, Izumi Mizutani, Garrus Vakarian, the CPUs, the Parthenian Knights. She would've attempted to sweet talk them into allying with her but then force their obedience with her authority as a CPU. True loyalty can never be attained this way."

"Not going to lie Dia. Normally I'd be utterly surprised at the whole 'accident' topic but I've experienced so much it doesn't even faze me, though I am a bit dismayed at how everything that's happened over the last few years was because of a single mistake. It's...too complicated to explain fully."

"Understandable. I did drop a bombshell worth of info on ya." Dia stopped speaking for a moment to down a mug in one take, removing the cloak covering her face, revealing her fiery red eyes and silky black hair, placing it back on the table, a faint rosy red developing on her cheeks but otherwise seemed fine "Aaah~, even though homunculi are incapable of being drunk, it's a damn good feeling getting the chance to drink like this. Though I very much prefer Ryncol; that shit is wild and I love it. And my status as a homunculi means it can't ruin me where it'd hurt others. But I will say I do want to know what being intoxicated feels like at least once. It'd probably suck sure, but isn't the desire for experience something every sentient being wants to have?"

"I guess. There's something else I want to ask. I've heard that this Tybalt lives in the void between worlds, so would he be able to bring me and my friends back to their homes?"

"Hmm...maybe? It's one thing for him, his creations, or those forcibly thrown into the void to travel between worlds but bringing others along? Not sure it can be done. Unfortunately, he's not in a position where he can lend any aid to you. He's being hunted down so he had to flee and I'm stranded in this dimension. The ones hunting him down are monitoring this world and its various dimensions. Trying to travel through dimensions to get back? That's going to be a challenge since they're likely going to try locking down all access if given the time."

"Who is this group going to all this effort to keep us trapped?"

"They call themselves the Time Space Administrative Bureau or the TSAB for short. They're a bunch of annoying ass mages trying to enforce what they believe to be justice and order over the multiverse. Regardless of the fact, they came in force and they're striking with a vengeance. They're starting with Alpha Dimension, aka the core dimension you were brought to, but they have every intention of using an interdimensional radar system to begin monitoring the various branching dimensions. As soon as it's completed, travel between dimensions is going to become far more difficult. Worst case scenario, we'll be trapped here forever. Well, unless we're interested in becoming a flat-out enemy of the TSAB mages, but that's honestly a bad idea to me. On paper, them wanting to isolate this world from everything else is noble and good, and I do agree somewhat, but that means everyone trapped here will remain trapped or will have to go through rather extensive bureaucracy to even get out. It'd probably take years for anyone to leave through them."

"Yeah. As the attackers, they have access to far greater resources while us the defenders are limited in our options. Okay Dia, for the time being, we have a common goal: Leaving this dimension. I don't know whether to consider you an ally or enemy in the long term, but the circumstances at hand force me to treat you as an ally while we're here. Help us escape this place."

"No need to tell me twice Aqua Heart. Our consensus is conflicted but since I'm isolated, I will accept aid when I have need of it. I do believe it'd be better if I worked in the background. I'll set up a lab hidden in the forest near the southern coast of Planeptune. I'll be working to see if there's a way back to Alpha. Well, that and working on a nice suntan on the beach." The mention of this last part made Karen twitch her eyebrows in anger "What, I love the beach. Especially when I get to wear a bikini and taunt all the men there. I love how flustered they get."

"I expect you to be able to work at least somewhat Dia. Do not treat this as a game for your enjoyment. I got no qualms with an occasional R&R, but keep to the goal."

"Killjoy. Got it. When you get back to Planeptune, ask your friends Thraaklon and Klumse to join me in my lab once I set it up. I will need skilled engineers helping me out. And before you ask, I'll have it set up within an hour. Thank Isnian technology for the ability to create buildings within minutes with built in pocket dimensions and, normally mind you, synthesis dispensers but this model has it heavily encrypted, trust me, I doubt even your friend Miyo Hanari could break it. I'm getting too into technobabble, but know that we'll try working on a way out on our end and anything else you ask of us. Speaking of which, you'll likely need a secondary means of maintaining yourself when you're away from cities. You may have it easy if you simply travel between Planeptune and Lastation since their capitals are less than a day's travel away, but remember that these nations are far bigger than you'd think so here, this is a pocket dimension generator built around the idea of camping. While you can't bring anything out from within, it's perfect for spending the night in near perfect harmony and relative luxury, depending on your tastes." After saying this, Dia downed her last mug, shifted her hand inside her cloak, pulling out a tan colored sphere very similar in appearance to Sword Art Online's Mirage Sphere and puts it in front of Karen "Here you go."

Accepting the item as she digitized it through her gauntlet's storage system, Karen immediately recalled a matter that had been on her mind the last couple of years "Hey, why did you have Hillary rob me in the first place years ago?"

"Oh, little thief girl? Simply put, that girl needed a stable rock to hang on to since I felt like she was going to crash and burn if she continued her thieving ways. Much like how it didn't affect you all that much, eventually she was going to make an enemy out of someone who was immune to her magic or worse, if a bunch of her past victims recalled her appearance and banded together to take her down. I figured it'd be ideal to tell her I'd promise her a great reward if she robbed you as an excuse for your paths to cross. Of course, I knew she was incompatible with HDD yet a perfect match with the Tail Gear." Dia stopped speaking for a moment as she moved a hand toward her ear, the same kind of earpiece Hilda carried flashing signifying it is active "Hm? Yeah? Figures they'd worm their way out of work since those two goddesses are the laziest of them all. It's getting late so just come meet Aqua Heart and I outside the city. I do know she's still very busy, but see if she wants to come along." After saying this, presumably to Hilda based on her choice of words, and deeply sighing in discontent, Dia then looked back toward Karen "Well Neptune and Plutia ran back to Planeptune after only a single lecture from Noire. No use trying to get them back right now; Histoire will send them back tomorrow. Let's just go outside and test out the camping kit."


End file.
